Alice's Father Returns
by NiteOwl
Summary: Rick returns from college with a new wife and wants his daughter back. Frasier goes the extra mile to help Roz and comedy and romance ensue. Completed 7-20
1.

frasier1-5 _This is my first try at writing a Frasier fanfiction, so please let me know what you think by sending feedback to nite_owl@mad.scientist.com_

_Oh yeah, and disclaimer: They're not mine, I'm only borrowing them for a few chapters :)_

**Alice's Father Returns**   
by Joy, ([nite_owl@mad.scientist.com][1]) 

Summary: Rick Garrett returns after graduation from college, with a new wife, and wants his daughter back. Frasier goes the extra mile to help Roz and comedy and romance ensue. PG to PG-13 at the most. 

Chapter 1

"Ten seconds Frasier," Roz cued to signal the end of the show for the day. 

"That's all the time we have for today listeners, and until next time Seattle this is Dr. Frasier Crane wishing you a good evening and good mental health." Frasier gave his signature closing line and hit the button to switch off the mic as he leaned back in his chair. "Am I getting old Roz, or are people just getting stranger by the day, can you believe that woman who called in wanting to know if she should be jealous of her husband for going out on a date the day before their wedding?" 

"I know, how weird is that, no one takes relationships seriously these days." Roz agreed as she gathered up her purse and met Frasier in the recording booth. She looked offended as Frasier began laughing heartily at her comment. 

"Oh Roz, that's funny, I can't believe you of all people would say something like that." Frasier continued laughing, oblivious to the glare on Roz's face. 

"Frasier, that's not very nice of you to say, I thought you were my friend." Roz sounded wounded. 

"Oh come now Roz, you know I didn't mean it that way, I just meant that it was amusing to hear someone such as yourself talk about solid relationships." Frasier was trying to dig himself out of the hole, but only succeeded in getting himself deeper. 

"Well thanks a lot!" Roz exclaimed as she stormed out of the station, obviously upset. 

"Roz wait..." Frasier ran after his friend, catching her on the sidewalk outside the station. "Wait, I didn't mean it as bad as it sounded," he paused to catch his breath. 

"How did you mean it then." Roz sighed and faced him. 

"I just meant that you know, with so many boyfriends, and all...... aww hell Roz, I don't know what I meant, but I didn't want you to get mad." Frasier admitted. 

"I know what you meant," Roz sighed, "And yes I know my track record looks pretty awful, but I do believe in commitment Frasier, I've just never found anyone who really wanted it with me... and if they wanted it with me I didn't want it with them. Does that make sense?" 

"Yes Roz, I know exactly what you mean. I'm sorry I offended you." He apologized. "Friends again? Let's go grab a bite at Cafe Nervosa, my treat." 

"You're forgiven Frasier, I'm used to you sticking your foot in your mouth anyway." Roz playfully punched him on the shoulder as the two friends continued their walk to the Cafe.   
  
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   [1]: ../nite_owl@mad.scientist.com



	2. 

frasier1-5 Chapter 2

"Watch out Frasier, lovebird alert in the corner." Roz noticed when they entered Cafe Nervosa to see Niles and Daphne at their usual corner table, still acting like teens in love. 

"I swear Roz, they've been married for over a year now, you'd think they could start acting like adults." Frasier groaned. 

"Well I think it's sweet." Roz defended them as she and Frasier took a middle table. 

They were so engrossed in their debate over Niles and Daphne's public display of affection that they didn't notice the young man approaching their table until he spoke. "Hi Roz." His voice was almost hesitant. 

"Hello, do I know y.... Rick!" her jaw dropped. "Hi, what are you doing back here?" She rose to hug him. 

He returned the hug somewhat uncomfortably, seeming very unlike the friendly outgoing Rick Garrett that had left Seattle a couple years before. "I just moved back, got my degree in business management and would you believe I just bought Cafe Nervosa, so I'm the new owner." He exclaimed proudly. "Oh and I'd like you to meet my wife Heather," he said as he beckoned for a young petite blonde who had been standing off to the side. 

"Heather, nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Frasier Crane," Frasier spoke up cheerfully trying to cover for the suddenly speechless Roz." 

"Hello Heather, I'm Roz Doyle." Roz found her voice as Heather looked at her expectantly. 

"Hi Roz, I've heard so much about you. Heather sat down at the table smiling.   
"So you're the mother of Rick's child." 

At that comment even Frasier lost his calm expression as his jaw dropped in a look of astonishment, paralleled only by the look on Roz's face. 

"You... you know?" Roz stammered. 

"Oh of course, Rick tells me everything." She chirped happily. 

"Yes, I was wondering, if perhaps I could see Alice." Rick requested. "I haven't seen a picture of her since the one you sent me of her first birthday party." 

"Yeah, I guess I could do that." Roz was still a little shaken at all this happening so fast. "How would tomorrow be?" 

"Oh that would be wonderful, I can't wait to meet my little girl." Rick beamed, "Guess we'd better be getting back to business, it's been wonderful seeing you again." He nodded to the stunned duo as he and Heather disappeared into the back. 

"Well that was certainly interesting, are you OK?" Frasier could tell that Roz was slightly shaken. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I need to go home," Roz said distractedly. "Don't ask me why but I suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to see my daughter." 

"OK Roz, see you Monday" Frasier agreed, though she was out the door before he even finished. He continued sipping his cappucino while analyzing what had just happened.   
  
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	3. 

frasier1-5 Chapter 3

"So Roz, who is our next caller?" Frasier asked as the first show of the week was winding down. 

"We have Jill on line one." Roz's voice sounded strained as she patched through the call. 

"Go ahead Jill, I'm listening," Frasier said as he turned to observe Roz, worried as she plopped her head on the desk, obviously drained and upset. He could barely pay attention to the caller over his concern. 

"No Jill, I don't think your husbands obsession with constantly wearing bunny slippers is healthy, if you'll stay on the line our producer will give you a list of recommended psychiatrists in the area. And that's all the time we have for today.." Frasier hastily ended the show to see what was troubling Roz. 

She had just gotten off the phone when he made it into the booth. "How was the weekend Roz, you look exhausted." His tone was sympathetic. 

"Oh it was terrible Frasier," Roz launched herself into his arms, needing to feel his warm comforting hug. "Mr. and Mrs. Sunshine decided they just adored little Alice so much that they begged to keep her all weekend. What could I say, he hasn't seen her for 2 years, but it was so hard being without my baby." 

"There there.... you have her back now though." Frasier tried to comfort her. 

"I have her back now, but I started thinking, what if they.... if they try to take her away from me. They couldn't do that could they?" Her eyes searched Frasiers face begging him to assure her that she was jumping to wild conclusions. 

"Of course they wouldn't, this is probably just a passing phase." Frasier tried to soothe her, but he had to admit to himself that the same niggling doubt had also been lurking in the back of his mind since the incident at the Cafe. He just prayed it wasn't true, because he knew as well as anyone that Roz adored her daughter and would never be able to give her up. 

"Thank you Frasier, you're always there for me when I need a friend." Roz thanked him as she composed herself and pulled away. "I think I'm going to go home early today if that's OK." 

"Sure, would you like some company, if you need to talk that is." He offered. 

"No, that's OK, I think I'll take Alice to the park this afternoon." Roz smiled as she gathered her things to leave. 

"Well you know you can always call me if you need me." Frasier called out after her, surprised when she stopped and turned instead of continuing out the door like she usually did without acknowledging his farewells. 

"Yes Frasier, I do... and thank you." She smiled sincerely for a split second before continuing on her way to spend time with her daughter. 

"I sure hope she's worrying about nothing." Frasier thought to himself as he to got ready to head home. 

_LATER_

"Dad, I want you to get that hideous lamp out of this living room now." Frasier exclaimed as soon as he saw the new decoration Martin Crane had brought in. It was an absolute monstrosity in his opinion, whoever heard of a lamp with deer antlers? 

"You have no appreciation for art son. Besides this was a gift from one of my old hunting buddies." Martin Crane defended himself as Eddie looked on, turning his head back and forth between the two men as they talked. 

"Art? This is not art, this is an insult to good taste. Art is Monet, Picasso..... Alice's fingerpainting would qualify as art next to this." Frasier boomed. 

"Well excuse me for living here," Martin picked up the lamp, and headed to his room. 

"Dad... I'm sorry...." Frasier called after his father but was met only with the sound of the bedroom door slamming. _"Gee, I overeacted, I can't believe I'm so on edge, it must be this stuff with Rick's reappearance. I'll have to get Dad something to make up for this, maybe season tickets to some sports team around here, I must remember to ask bulldog what sport teams there are around Seattle."_ Frasier mused as he sat on the couch deep in thought, interrupted by the ringing of the phone. 

"Hello, Crane residence.." 

"Donny, what a surprise...." 

"Yes..... yes..... you're kidding?" 

"Thanks for calling, I owe you one..." 

"Yes I'm still sorry about what I did about Niles and Daphne....." 

"Yes.." 

"Look Donny, if you'd like to rake me over the coals later fine, but after what you just told me I must get to Roz, goodbye." Frasier hastily hung up the phone and ran to the door.   
  
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	4. 

frasier1-5 Chapter 4

_Roz's Apartment_

"Roz.... open up, I know you're in there." Frasier banged on the door for what must have been the twentieth time. 

There was no answer but he could hear movement inside. "Fine then, you leave me no choice," he muttered under his breath as he pulled out his keyring. Thankful that Roz had given him a copy years ago. 

When he opened up the door he was alarmed at the mess before him. It looked like the house had been ransacked. "Roz!" He called out in alarm, suddenly wondering if the noise he might have heard was an intruder. 

"Go away Frasier, I'm busy," Roz called out as she came from the bedroom carrying another suitcase to join those already placed by the door. 

"You're not going to run are you!" Frasier said in astonishment. 

"Run, what do you mean?" The breathless Roz finally stopped her packing frenzy. 

"Don't try to play innocent, Donny called me, saying you might need a friend. He told me everything." Frasier confronted her. 

"Everything?" Roz said weakly. 

"Yes, about how he heard while playing golf with a lawyer friend that Rick was working quietly to prepare for a court battle to get full custody of Alice." 

Roz froze as she heard the words again, just as she had when Donny had first called her. Then the dam burst as she launched herself into Frasiers arms. "They're going to take my baby, I can't lose her, I would be willing to share maybe but I can't just totally give her up." She cried into his shoulder. 

"Ssshhh shhh.... there now," Frasier held her in his arms as he tried to soothe his weeping friend. 

"Thank you Frasier," she said when she finally pulled away with mascera streaked down her cheeks. "Now you see why I have to take Alice and run don't you?" She picked up another empty suitcase and began throwing some of Alice's toys into it. 

"No Roz, you can't run. It would only make things worse." Frasier stopped her in her tracks. 

"What do you mean worse, she'll still be with her Mother." 

"Yes, but you'll be living on the run, and if you do get caught you would lose her for sure. Just stop and think about it a moment." 

Roz was silent as she plopped down on the sofa. "I know you're right, but what else can I do." 

"I have a lawyer friend, lets go see her and see what she has to say. Your chances of keeping Alice may not be as bad as you think." Frasier tried to encourage her as he pulled out a handkerchief for her to dry her eyes with. "Now promise me you won't try to run and I'll go set up an appointment, OK." 

"I promise Frasier, you're right, he did leave when I was pregnant and never came back, that would count as abandonment wouldn't it." 

"I think that would definitely be in your favor." Frasier agreed as he picked up the phone to make an appointment with the lawyer.   
  
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	5. 

frasier1-5 Chapter 5

_Next day, 3 pm, Laura Jameson's office._

"Thanks for coming with me Frasier, I really appreciate the moral support." Roz squeezed his arm affectionately as they sat in the waiting room. 

"No problem Roz, you know I couldn't let you deal with this alone." Frasier smiled back as the secretary signaled that they could go into the office now. 

"Hi, Ms. Doyle, Frasier nice to see you again." They were greeted by an attractive middle aged woman wearing a simple yet flattering business outfit. Roz immediately felt put at ease by her warm manner and the inviting interior of the office. 

"Frasier tells me you're in a bit of a jam, why don't we discuss it here and see what's going on, I'll ask some pertinant questions to do a basic assessment and then we'll see where we end up okay?" The lawyer began warmly. 

Thank you Ms. Jameson" Roz smiled as she sat down. 

"Oh please, call me Laura." She said as she took her seat behind the desk and pulled out a notepad. 

_AN HOUR LATER_

"I hate to have to tell you this, but after all the information you've shared I have to be realistic and say that your chances could be slim." Laura sighed. 

"But he abandoned her while she was pregnant." Frasier sounded surprised. 

"True, however that could be cast in a different light, he left to go on a study tour to another continent, not just take off like a deadbeat. Courts generally tend to favor the Mother, and that would be your strongest argument, that you're the child's mother and that you've had her since she was born. That might score empathy points. But considering that you're not married and have a questionable track record with men, and a job as a radio producer, which is good, but it wouldn't be seen as favorably as his occupation. It could easily appear that Rick would be able to provide a more stable home, both financially and emotionally." Laura finished matter of factly. 

"Wait a minute, you're saying that because they're a young married couple with a better income they can take my baby away just because I'm a an older single mother who works at a radio station." Roz's eyes were blazing in anger. 

"Essentially yes. I know the lawyer handling this case, and he's a piranha. If this ends up in court he could quite possibly call a string of old boyfriends, past co-workers, anyone who could provide evidence to make you sound like an unfit mother." 

Roz was speechless as she stared at the wall, realizing for the first time how real it was that Rick could actually take her daughter away from her. 

"Is there anything we can do, surely there must be something." Frasier was exasperated. "This would be a travesty for this guy to walk in and take the little girl that Roz has raised, her world revolves around that child and it will devastate her if she loses her. And what about Alice, to uproot her from the only home she's ever known." 

"Well.... I'm no piranha like Mr. Holloway is but I do know a few tricks here and there." 

"Really?" Roz's head snapped up. 

"It could still be a tough battle but I can give you some tips on how you might be able to even the score." 

"Anything, I'll do anything," Roz was on the edge of her seat. 

"OK, first off we do have one ace in that we have the element of surprise. Obviously he is not going to tell you about wanting custody until he has everything set up so that he feels you don't have a chance. You probably have a couple more weeks before officially finding out. Do you think you could get a raise at the station?" 

"I don't know, I'd have to ask Kenny...." her voice trailed. 

"Consider it done," Frasier chimed in, "I'll get Kenny to give you a raise in salary, and maybe even a few more fringe benefits." 

"OK, that would be good, now about housing. Your home sounds rather small, however if you could work on it to make sure it looks suitable for a child that shouldn't be to much of a strike against you. But be sure you have everything in good repair, and a fresh paint job might help also." Laura advised. 

"Yes it is tiny, but I'll do what I can." Roz assured her. "What else?" 

"OK, this is unfortunately one of the most important, and yet most difficult parts to address. You need to slow down on the dating. Do you have a steady boyfriend you could keep for awhile, one who Alice knows and who could stand the glare of the courts scrutiny. 

"I might as well hand her over to Rick right now." Roz sighed. "The last boyfriend I had was in a rock band, and that was over 4 months ago. I haven't dated a lot recently." 

"Well that's better than dating several men I suppose." Laura nodded as she made a notation. 

"So you're essentially saying that if she was in a stable relationship her chances of retaining custody would be better?" Frasier clarified. 

"Yes, the more stable the better." The attorney nodded. "We're going up against a happily married yuppie couple here, so their defense for a stable home is going to be pretty strong." 

"I have a friend I haven't seen for several years and I might be able to get him to come help out." Roz was brainstorming. 

"That might work, but your best bet would be someone who's been in your life for awhile, someone new might be hard for Alice to bond with this quickly." 

"Tell me Laura, what if she were married, would that help more?" Frasier interrupted. 

"Oh no doubt, if she were married her chance would increase by as much as 50% if not more. Considering he was reputable of course." 

"Would a Doctor be considered reputable enough?" Frasier said with a gleam in his eye. 

"A doctor, Frasier I don't know any doctor's," Roz was trying to figure out where he was going with this. 

"Yes, that would be fantastic, but it can't be just any arrangement, it would have to be believable, whoever she's with would have to withstand pretty heavy scrutiny by the courts. What exactly do you have in mind?" Both women turned to look at Frasier who was obviously processing some big idea. 

"Me..." he blurted out, "What if Roz married me, just until all this is over. We've been friends and co-workers for several years, my reputation is stellar, Alice has been around me frequently since the day she was born.... I think it might work." 

"Frasier, are you out of your mind." Roz could hardly believe what he had just said. "You're my best friend, but I can't ask you to...." 

"Roz, you're not asking, I'm just expressing an idea." Frasier countered. "What do you think Laura?" 

"Let me think.... yes, if cast in the proper light a marriage to you could prove very beneficial for Roz. But I cannot legally advocate such a step. That's something I'll leave entirely up to the two of you. But let me say off the record, that if that decision is made it is imperative that everyone believes it to be legitimate. I would even say if not to late that nothing be mentioned about the lawsuit either, so we can keep our element of surprise, and also no one will be put on the spot if they end up on the witness stand." 

"There's just no way...." Roz began. 

"I'll let you work on all the things we've discussed here today, and how about we meet next week to check progress. Notify me immediately if you are served with any papers." Laura said warmly as she rose to show them out. 

"Thank you very much," they both said gratefully as they exited the office.__

_TO BE CONTINUED_


	6. 

frasier Chapter 6

"Frasier, I appreciate the offer, but I just can't see trying to fool the system like that." Roz said as they were eating at a small italian restaurant. 

"Well I'm not thrilled with the idea of tangling with lady justice either, but the other options are to go on the run with Alice, which you know would not be a good idea. Trying to battle it out with Rick, and we already know what your chances are there, or marrying me just until all this blows over. Frasier again presented his rationale. 

"You forgot another option," Roz said darkly. "Kill Rick and that little homemaker wife of his." 

"Ha-ha, very funny Roz. Seriously though, I'm not going to pressure you into anything, I was just stating my willingness to help out my best friend. Let me know whatever I can do. But remember time is of the essence." Frasier urged. 

"Oh Frasier, I hate it when your logical. You're right, it's the best chance we have, I just don't see your family buying us as a couple, or anyone else for that matter." Roz exhaled sharply. 

"I don't see why not, we've got the perfect role models in Niles and Daphne so we just have to act like they do." 

"You're kidding me, I can't act that lovey dovey, I'd puke on all that sugary sweetness." 

"Yes that would be a bit much, well like them, just to a lesser degree. How's that?" 

"Ok, so how do you think we should do this, we don't have time to plan much of a ceremony." Roz finally relented. 

"Simple, we elope, tonight!" Frasier declared. 

"Tonight, but I had a date." Roz wailed, only to be met by a raised eyebrow from Frasier. "Oh alright, I'll go cancel it." 

"And while you're doing that I'll go get the needed props." Frasier rose, "meet at your house in 2 hours?" 

"Talk about a romantic proposal" Roz mumbled as she nodded her farewell to Frasier and pulled out her cellphone. 

_LATER AT THE GREENBRIAR CHAPEL_

They sat in the small chapel filled with folding chairs as they watched couple after couple approach a small balding minister. They would hand over $50 and take their vows, and were on their way in less than half an hour. Though they both knew that it was supposed to be a fake marriage Frasier couldn't help but feel a tad nervous as he wiped his sweaty palms against his trousers.   
Roz was feeling pretty jittery herself and kept playing with Alice to try and stay distracted. They both jumped when they heard the minister call out "Crane and Doyle!" 

They approached rapidly, Roz still holding Alice, as a reminder of why they were going through with this. 

"The minister sped through the service and they exchanged a simple set of gold bands that Frasier had picked up as the "props", he assured her that a simple band would show more stability than any fancy diamonds or jewels. He had also picked up a small engagement ring which she had put on merely 20 minutes before the ceremony. 

_A FEW MINUTES LATER___

"You may now kiss the bride." The minister announced as an assistant held the camera ready to take a picture of their first kiss as husband and wife, holding the baby between them as their lips met in a soft gentle kiss. "Beautiful... beautiful" the minister said, "now a quick picture of the happy family," they quickly posed again as Frasier put his arm around Roz and they both supported Alice as the flash went off. "And here are your pictures, good luck to you both." The attendant wished them good luck as they were rushed off and another couple were called up. 

The ride back into Seattle was silent as they both were thinking about what had just happened. Though they had planned it it still seemed surreal that they were legally husband and wife. Frasier wasn't sure if this didn't qualify as a sign of hell about to freeze over. 

Roz was still reeling by the emotions brought up by the ceremony and the kiss. She knew it was pretend but something about the kiss they had shared had moved her. She was now Mrs. Frasier Crane, she thought as she cradled the now sleeping Alice in her arms. _Roz Crane, sounded like some really strange breed of bird_ she almost giggled at the thought. All the events of the day had worn her out and soon she was lightly dozing against the headrest. 

I don't know how we're going to explain this, Dad might just have a heart attack. Frasier thought as he turned his attention to the sleeping mother and child. He could not help though feeling a protective and paternal urge at the sight. Seeing Roz asleep in the moonlight he was suddenly struck by the realization of how beautiful she really was. _ It may not be the most legal way to approach it, but I cannot let her lose that child. Alice has brought out a much different and more adult Roz, and I know it would kill her to lose her._

Before he knew it he was pulling up at Roz's house. He gently cleared his throat to wake her up. "Looks like we're back." He said as she took a moment to regain her surroundings. As the three entered the small house Roz immediately went to put Alice to bed while Frasier went to raid the kitchen. 

"So here we are," Roz sighed as she sat down at the small kitchen table with Frasier and started nibbling on some crackers and cheese he had brought out. 

"Yeah, here we are." Silence hung in the air as they were both lost for words for one of the few times in either one's life. 

"I guess tomorrow I'll make the announcement to the family." Frasier said quietly. 

"Yeah, we also need to decide on where to live." 

"It's up to you Roz, the apartment is bigger, but Dad will be there." 

"True, but it's in a better part of town, and would probably look better to a judge or social worker." 

"You're right about that, there's building security there, as well as daycare in the building." Frasier agreed. "I guess we'll move you and Alice in tomorrow. We can turn Daphne's room into a nursery, her rooms been vacant ever since she married Niles anyway." 

"Yeah, well do you want me there when you make the announcement?" 

"Sure, sounds like a proper couple thing to do. I'll try to get everyone together for lunch tomorrow so we can tell them then. I'll call Kenny and tell him to run a Best of Frasier Crane tape so we can have tomorrow off to move. Though we need to announce it to the station soon also. 

"Oh that's right we've got to tell all our friends as well. We had better get our story worked out so we both tell the same versions." Roz suddenly realized. 

"Well sounds like the way to spend a honeymoon to me." Frasier agreed as the two spent the rest of the night figuring out the details that they would be telling their families and friends about their sudden elopement.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. 

frasier Chapter 7

_Late Next Morning_

"Oh Hi Roz, Frasier where were you last night. I was going to apologize about our fight but you never came home." Martin inquired the moment Frasier, Roz and Alice entered the house. 

"I'll tell you in a little bit Dad," Frasier was almost nervous again, and he couldn't figure out for the life of him why this marriage kept doing that to him. "Are Niles and Daphne still coming for lunch?" 

"As far as I know, what's so earthshattering that you have to get us all together like this? I can tell somethings up. Another radio award or something that you want to gloat about I suppose?" 

"You'll know later Dad, right now I need to make a phone call. Frasier said as he went into the kitchen. Figuring he might as well go ahead and get telling Lilith and Frederick out of the way. 

"Well how did they take it?" Roz asked him after he had come back in the room and Martin had gone to get a beer. 

"She took it rather well actually, said she thought it was good that I had finally been able to find someone, and Frederick said he thought you were cool, and looked forward to playing with Alice when he came to visit again. He said he was also going to tell her all the tricks of having me for a dad. That's one conversation I must listen in on." 

"Oh let him tell her, Alice will probably need some help with that one anyway. Since you'll probably be psychoanalyzing her at every turn." Roz grinned as she shot that last playful barb. 

"I don't mean to sound nosy son, but if everyone's coming over here for dinner in an hour shouldn't there be something to eat." Martin interrupted before Frasier could make a smart retort as he re-entered the dining room. 

"Oh great scott, you're right Dad, I had better start cooking," Frasier started heading towards the kitchen, "I'll have to see what dishes there are I can make in less than an hour, perhaps there's something in the freezer, oh dear." He was obviously frazzled as he began to race to the kitchen. 

"Wait, hold it right there. I'll take care of dinner." Roz announced, causing both of the Crane men to eye her warily. "Seriously Frasier, consider it my first domestic duty as the most recent Crane wife." She whispered to him outside Martin's earshot, winking as she went past him into the kitchen. 

"Well OK, I guess Dad and I can discuss that hideous lamp while you do that." Frasier agreed as he went and sat down in the living room, letting Alice sit in his lap and play with his hand, which seemed to fascinate the toddler, as he talked with Martin. 

"I never pictured Roz as much of a cook." Martin confessed. 

"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised to, it's awfully quiet in there, maybe I should go help." Frasier mused but did not act on it. 

Before long Roz carried out plates and silverware to set the table. "Lunch should be ready in about 15 more minutes" she announced, smiling for a moment at how well Frasier and Alice were getting along. Any judge in the world would be able to see how much her little girl loved her Uncle Frasier. Which was no surprise considering he had been the only male figure consistantly in Alice's life since her birth. And she knew that he also had a soft spot of his own for Alice. If this were real she could do a lot worse in picking a step-father. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when the doorbell rang. "I got it," she headed for the door, "oh Frasier, got 35 bucks." she said as she walked by the couch. "Oh yeah, uh sure." He fished out his wallet and gave her the money, causing Martin's eyebrows to shoot skyward. "Since when to you two ask each other for money like that?" He was surprised. 

"You'll understand later, Dad." Frasier assured him, suddenly turning around as the smell of cheese and pepperoni assualted his nostrils. 

"Hey pizza," Martin exclaimed happily. "Now that's my kind of cook." 

"Roz, how could you order that... that...." Frasier couldn't find the words. "And make me pay for it no less?" 

"It's called pizza, if you and Niles aren't happy with it then there will just be extra for the rest of us, so take it or leave it." She flipped her hair around in a _take it or leave it_ attitude as she turned and headed back to the kitchen. 

"You know Frasier, I might be out of line here but you and Roz are starting to sound almost domestic." Martin chuckled. 

"Yes I guess we are," Frasier said absentmindedly as he started trying to figure out which wine went with pizza. 

The doorbell signaled the arrival of Daphne and Niles just as he had finally decided on red wine. 

"Hey all, sorry we're a trifle late." Niles announced when they opened the door, both of them grinning blissfully from ear to ear. "You didn't give us much warning you know?" 

"Ooooohhhh Alice is here," Daphne immediately cooed when she saw the little girl and went to her picking her up. "Babysitting for Roz?" 

"Not exactly" Frasier replied just as Roz came out carrying the pizza arranged on a serving platter. "Looks like we'll have to find something else to eat bro." he sighed again. 

"Why, something wrong with the pizza?" Niles said nonchalantly, much to his brothers surprise as he pulled out a chair for Daphne. 

"You know Niles, this marriage to Daphne is changing you." Frasier sighed, "But I remember trying it once, it wasn't that bad if I recall correctly." Frasier gave in and pulled out a chair for Roz and Alice before he sat down. 

"I must say I'm glad you got us all here together," Niles said after the meal had begun. "Daphne and I were wondering how to tell you all." It was obvious that he was deliriously happy about something. 

"Well go ahead, no time like the present," Martin prompted. 

"Oh no, wait Niles, Frasier was the one who called this, he said he had something to share, he should go first." Daphne prompted. 

"You're so right, I'm sorry Frasier, what did you have to say?" 

"Oh no Niles, you go first, I insist." Frasier graciously offered. 

"Oh goody," Niles and Daphne stood up and held hands and looked at each other, to excited to argue with Frasier over who should announce first. "We're pregnant!" They exclaimed in unison, almost giggling like schoolchildren in their glee. 

Everyone broke out in warm congratulations, hugging and shaking hands at the good news. 

The rest of the meal was spent discussing possible names depending on the childs gender, whether they wanted a boy or a girl. And Daphne scaring people by talking about triplets running down her side of the family. Before they even realized it the meal was over and Frasier and Roz had still not made the announcement. 

"Oh I almost forgot Frasier, what did you have to say." Niles finally remembered.the reason they had come there. 

Modeling after Niles and Daphne, they stood up and held hands to face the family. 

"Oh let me guess, you two are going to have a baby." Daphne laughed out loud, thinking she had just said something funny, figuring the announcement was something simple like a job promotion or something. 

"No, actually we're married." Frasier said with a perfectly deadpan look. Effectively causing Daphne to quit laughing and everyone's jaws to drop simultaneously as they digested this new information. Alice was the only one to appear unfazed as she continued to gnaw on a piece of pizza. 

"That's funny Frasier, I could almost swear you just said that you and Roz had gotten married." Niles finally found his voice. 

"Yes, scary isn't it Niles, we're related now." Roz teased him, trying to break the silence in the room. Everyone seemed to find their voice at once. 

"Oh Roz I'm so happy for you" Daphne walked around to hug her friend. 

"Congratulations son" Martin hugged Frasier and then reached over to shake Roz's hand. "Welcome to the family Roz, and you to Alice" he reached down to shake the little girls hand. 

After a few moments the celebration died down, but Niles had been noticeably silent the whole time. "I don't mean to be a wet blanket on the announcement, but I don't quite believe this." He said seriously. "You two don't have any chemistry." 

"Oh stuff it son, I've been waiting for them to get together for 2 years now," Martin reprimanded. 

"Niles, are you blind, it's been obvious that they've been in love for a long time, I just never thought they'd realize it." Daphne added, causing both Frasier and Roz to slightly raise their eyebrows at the statement. 

"Ok, fine then, prove it, tell me how and why it happened, and when as well. How long have you two been hiding this. A week, a year." Niles was obviously getting upset. 

"Niles, calm down." Frasier was a bit embarrassed at his reaction. 

"I'm sorry, it's nothing personal Roz, I just don't buy my brother getting married without telling me." 

"Oh I see now, it's not disapproval, you're just hurt I would make such a decision without telling you." Frasier said in his best psychiatrist tone. 

"Well you must admit Frasier that running off and getting married without telling anyone doesn't sound like you. So let's hear the story." Niles prompted again, calmer this time. 

"Yes, the story, alright." Frasier put his arm around Roz and pulled her closer, prepared to tell the story just as they had rehearsed countless times the night before. 

"Yesterday evening we were having a cozy little meal together in an Italian restaurant just talking about work and family. Suddenly I took a good look at the woman before me through the candlelight and I was struck by an epiphany" Frasier raised his arm dramatically as if pulling a curtain back to allow the light to shine in. 

"That french cuisine is better?" Niles interjected, Frasier ignored the remark while Daphne cast Niles a reproachful look. 

"I realized that all the time I had been out searching for that one special woman to share my life with that she had been right in front of me all the time. Before losing my courage I immediately stopped the conversation and declared my feelings. And to my surprise I found that Roz felt the same way. Didn't you darling?" 

Roz almost winced hearing Frasier call her darling, she thought it sounded fake but picked up at her cue anyway. "Yes I did. I was astonished at first, it seemed like he was reading my mind when he told me how he felt. When I told him I felt the same way, we were just so happy that we decided we couldn't wait. After 4 years of being in love another day was to long to wait." Roz finished, not quite as dramatically, yet still fairly convincingly. 

"I understand exactly what you mean." Daphne said softly. She and Niles both were obviously flashing back to the day they had each found out that the other loved them. 

"So you two eloped last night?" Niles swallowed trying to believe the story, "Are there any pictures? Since some of us were not invited to the happy event." 

Ignoring the barb Frasier happily took the pictures Roz had just fished out of her purse and passed them to Niles. 

"Oh what a sweet kiss, and look how happy they look. I always knew they were in love." Daphne crooned at the pictures as Niles looked on in disbelief at the obvious proof that his brother had indeed eloped without telling him. "Well the pictures don't lie. I'm sorry Frasier, Roz, that reaction was uncalled for, congratulations! I still don't see why you couldn't have at least picked up the phone though." Niles couldn't help throwing in that last comment. 

"Thank you Niles, yes I suppose I could have called, just like you did when you and Daphne were making the great Winnebago escape." Frasier replied dryly, causing Niles to sulk as he realized he had just been one-upped. 

"So what are your plans for the day? Heading off on a honeymoon?" Daphne changed the subject before the brothers started fighting. 

"Due to the lack of wedding planning we're just going to take off somewhere this weekend for a honeymoon. Today we're going to start moving Roz's and Alice in here. Do you have a problem with that Dad?" Frasier covered the question easily, proud of himself for winging it when that was one area he and Roz had forgotten to discuss. 

"Of course not, I couldn't be happier, it'll be nice to have someone here who talks about more than opera and wine." Martin appeared genuinely happy. 

"Would you like some help moving, we'd be glad to help." Niles volunteered. 

"Alright, yes that would be nice. Let me go change into some jeans and we can get started." Frasier headed towards his room. Pleased with himself at how smoothly the story had gone over, and also secretly pleased that his family was so approving of Roz. Though he would have to ask his family members later what they meant when they said they had been expecting it.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. 8

frasier Chapter 8

"I think that's the last of it," Frasier huffed as he sat down the last box in the room that was soon to be Alice's nursery. 

"I didn't realize you had so much stuff Roz," Niles surveyed the several boxes around him. 

"Hey it's not all mine, a lot of it is Alice's" Roz defended. 

"Well I do wish I had been more help Frasier, but after I strained my back I just couldn't do any more lifting." 

"That's alright Niles, I appreciate your help anyway, and you're right, that was a heavy lamp." Frasier sympathized, though Niles thought he detected a note of sarcasm. 

"Anyway thanks to you both, we can finish up now." Roz hastily interrupted before the two brothers started arguing again. She had never quite realized before how much they acted like children together. 

"Are you sure there's not more we can do?" Daphne offered. 

"Oh no, you've done more than enough, really we appreciate it." Frasier assured them both. 

"Ok, well we'll take Alice then and be on our way." Daphne said brightly as she started looking about for her. 

:"Take Alice, what do you mean," Roz was very obviously alarmed. 

"Calm down Roz, we discussed it with Dad, did he not mention it to you?" Niles wasn't sure what nerve he had just hit to cause Roz to be so upset. 

"No he didn't? I don't know what I was thinking though, I guess I'm a little stressed right now" Roz hastily apologized. 

"Oh don't worry about it, the first few days of marriage can do these things to a person. Especially if you're getting into this family. Niles and I had just thought we'd take Alice for the night to get used to having a child around, and give you and Frasier some much needed time together alone." Daphne gave Roz a quick squeeze on the arm. 

"Are you sure, I don't want to impose...." Roz began, wishing that they could tell the truth about the sudden urgency of the marriage. Yet the lawyers words resounded in her mind _"It is imperative that everyone believes this is legitimate."_

"Oh no bother whatsoever." Niles assured Roz as Alice toddled into the room, following Eddie. "Alice, how would you like to go home with your Aunt Daphne and Uncle Niles for a night," he cooed at her while reaching down. Without hesitation Alice giggled and reached up for Niles to take her. She had been babysat often enough by the entire Crane family to not be afraid of them, and also knew that they often provided her with much fun and entertainment. 

Roz quietly helped Niles and Daphne get what they needed and gave a big hug and kiss to Alice, but all to soon she was gone and Roz was left standing in the box filled room. "They'll be back tomorrow, this is Niles and Daphne, not Rick and that little society wife of his." Frasier assured her calmly as he put his hand on her shoulder. 

"I know, it's just that I suddenly feel like I should be with her every minute, to enjoy every second I can so I can have memories when she is taken away from me. Does this sound crazy?" 

"Not at all, it's perfectly understandable. Just remember this is all the means to an end. You and Alice were already like extended family members, this just makes it more official. No lawyer can attack you for a lack of father figure in her life with three Crane men in the picture." Frasier gave his trademark smile of assured success. 

"I guess it's late, I can spend tomorrow unpacking all this stuff." Roz changed the subject as she looked at the stacks of boxes around them. 

"I know, I have got to get a shower and change out of these jeans, they always make me feel so uncomfortable." Frasier complained. 

"Uncomfortable? You have got to be the only man I know who thinks jeans are uncomfortable." Roz couldn't help but laugh. 

"So I'm not your average commoner, just because I wear them when I have to do work that might damage my suits or go to some sports game with Dad doesn't mean I have to enjoy them." Frasier sulked. 

"Well it's to bad, they make you look sexier." Roz blurted out before realizing what she had said. 

"They make me what?" Frasier's jaw dropped. 

"You know, more attractive, more appealing..." Roz began naming alternate definitions 

"Really, I never knew that," Frasier suddenly took on a different air, and Roz could almost swear he was strutting as he walked over to look at himself in a mirror. "I may need to experiment and wear these out sometime." He started preening. 

"Oh brother, I've created a monster. Well take your shower or whatever, I'm going to go get a glass of milk before showering and calling it a night myself." Roz announced as she headed to the kitchen, leaving Frasier to continue studying himself in the mirror. 

_KITCHEN_

"I'm sorry Martin" Roz apologized as she almost knocked the plate out of Martin Crane's hands when she swung open the kitchen door. 

"No harm done, just getting a little bit of a late night snack." Martin shrugged. 

"Yeah, well I just came out to get a little milk before turning in." Roz explained as she went to the refrigerator. 

"So how's marriage treating you so far." Martin attempted to make conversation with his new daughter-in-law as the two sat at the table to indulge in their respective snacks. 

"It's wonderful," Roz tried desperately to sound like a sincere blissful newlywed, though it sounded so fake to her ears she almost wanted to laugh. "I just can't believe it's finally happened, that after all these years of being in love, to find that he returned my feelings, and then to move so quickly, it was a real surprise I tell you." 

"I see" Martin paused from his chewing. "One thing I don't understand though," Roz could feel a lump forming in her throat knowing she was about to be busted. "If you've loved Frasier as long as you say you have, how come you never told him before?" 

Roz could barely keep from noticeably exhaling in relief, this was an easy question to answer. "Oh Martin, you know how high society your sons are. The thought of Dr. Frasier Crane, connoisseur of opera's, wine, fine food, and art; being interested in me when he had all those high society women about was laughable. I like cold pizza in the morning, shows at the local movie theater, and cranking up the radio when I want to listen to music. Does that make sense to you." 

"Perfectly, to be blunt I've always realized that my boys appear to be pretentious society snobs. And I'm glad that they both finally found women like you and Daphne who could look beyond those exteriors and see the gentle caring men inside. You two have and will bring them down to earth a bit, as opposed to Lilith and Maris who encouraged such behavior." Martin paused to laugh. "Daphne has done wonders with Niles, would you believe he actually went to an amusement park with her a few weeks ago instead of the opera?" 

"No..." Roz's eyes widened as she laughed right along with Martin, trying to picture Niles hanging on to a roller coaster for dear life. 

There was silence for a moment as the laughter died down. "I shouldn't keep you though, I'm sure Frasier is wondering where his bride is" Martin began, "But before you go, there's one more thing I want to say, all joking aside." His tone became serious. 

Roz gulped again, suddenly feeling like she did when she had been younger and her father had taken her aside for a serious talk. 

"I've thought of you and Frasier getting together several times over the past few years. You were a good friend to him every time the chips were down, and you brought out the same qualities in him. And most people never learn that friendship is a large part of a successful marriage. I never really thought you two would get to this point, considering how different you both are. But now that you have, I'm glad you have joined our family, along with little Alice. I feel as if I gained another daughter tonight." Martin said, some emotion showing through his voice, as he paused for a minute.   
"But anyway enough of that sappy stuff, I think it's time for this old man to call it a night." He smiled and rose, as Eddie leapt up to follow him. 

"Martin... wait." Roz couldn't let him go to bed without commenting on what he had said. "I just want to say Thanks, and I just realized a quality that you share with your sons." She smiled as he turned around looking perplexed. 

"You all are good at hiding those warm caring sides under either pretentious or gruff exteriors." She stated simply. 

"Perhaps you're onto something there, goodnight Roz." Martin smiled as he continued his exit. 

Roz was thoughtful for a moment as she finished sipping her milk, then got tired and went to take a shower and prepare for bed. 

_LATER_

It wasn't until she had gotten out of the shower and changed into some pajamas that she suddenly thought about sleeping arrangements and took off to find Frasier. He was in his room, having apparently just finished a shower himself as he was standing in the middle of the room rubbing his head with a towel, also wearing pajama's. Roz watched him for a minute before saying anything, somewhat intrigued by seeing the usual well groomed and composed Frasier Crane like this. He looked different for some reason, or perhaps it was just seeing him in a different light due to the marriage ceremony. She finally cleared her throat to let him know she was there. 

"Oh hi Roz," he stopped drying his hair and turned around to face her. "What's up?" 

"Actually I just had a question that occurred to me. Where exactly am I supposed to sleep during these weeks of this little charade?" 

"Yes, well, I thought of that myself earlier while taking a shower." Frasier said, suddenly a little nervous. And the only logical answer is that we have to share a room. I can only imagine Dad on the stand if that Holloway starts asking him about our marriage. "Oh no sir, I'm sure their marriage is real, just because they sleep in separate rooms...". But don't worry about it, I'll let you have the bed and I'll just camp out on the floor for a few weeks." Frasier grinned reassuringly. 

"Are you sure, I hate to throw you out of your bed." Roz was a little unsure as to the arrangement, but didn't want to put up too much of a fight, sleeping on the floor didn't appeal to her either. 

"Oh how bad can it be?" Frasier began fussing about as he grabbed a pillow and blanket. "The floor is the same as a mattress, just larger and a little harder." 

"Well if you change your mind let me know" Roz didn't argue any more as she pulled back the covers and crawled into the soft warm bed. 

"No problem, goodnight Roz," Frasier said as he turned off the light and then laid down onto the floor.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. 9

frasier Chapter 9

_2 A.M._

Roz was awakened to the sound of minor groaning and the rustling on the floor as Frasier was moving in his sleep trying to get comfortable. It was obvious that sleeping on the floor was not agreeing with him. Finally her conscience got the best of her and she turned on the lamp. "Frasier, wake up." She hissed trying to keep her voice down. 

"Wha.... what...." he sat up groggily, wincing as his back muscles protested. 

"Your groaning is keeping me awake and making me feel guilty, get up here right now." Roz said, tired herself and wanting to get back to sleep. 

"But what about you..." Frasier blinked as his eyes tried to get used to the light." 

"Oh come on, this beds big enough for both of us tonight, we can figure out another plan tomorrow. Now hurry up before we wake up and can't go back to sleep." Roz argued, clearly not in the best of moods. 

"I would argue, but I want to be able to walk tomorrow," Frasier gave in and managed to stand up and drag himself to the bed. His sigh of relief was audible at the feel of the soft mattress beneath him as he pulled up the covers. It was only a matter of moments before they both fell back to sleep. 

_LATE MORNING_

As Roz began to awaken she stretched slightly, enjoying the feel of the solid chest beneath her ear, and the feel of the warm body next to her. She sleepily opened her eyes and then suddenly remembered where she was when she met the eyes of a obviously barely waking up Frasier. It all came flooding back to her as she realized that she was cuddled up quit snugly to her boss, no her friend, or should she say her husband. The last thought caused her sit up and quickly move away in shock. "I'm sorry Frasier, I didn't mean to curl up to you like that." She began apologizing, somewhat embarrassed. 

"Aww... don't worry about it," Frasier said stretching, his voice still husky from sleep. "I can't believe we both slept so late." 

"Probably because we didn't get to sleep hardly until 2 am," Roz replied, luxuriating in the feel of the soft mattress,_ there sure are advantages to being able to afford something besides run of the mill department store mattresses_ she thought to herself. 

"I meant to ask you what took you so long last night, You were gone almost half an hour for that glass of milk." 

"Oh that, your Dad was in there and we talked some." 

"Ahhh the official welcome to the Crane family talk huh, I'm sorry." 

"Sorry for what, he was very nice about it Frasier, it's amazing how welcoming your family has been. It's actually touching." 

"You're serious aren't you? That's quite a surprise, Lilith made it sound like Dad raked her over the coals after we got married." 

"Well I guess I'm just more lovable than Lilith" Roz teased. 

"True, but don't get to pleased with yourself, Dad once said a rock was more lovable than Lilith and Maris combined." They both laughed at the comment enjoying their playful morning banter. 

_*knock-knock*_

They were interrupted by a rapping on the door. "Frasier, I hate to interrupt but I thought you might want to know something." Martin's voice filtered through the door. 

"Sure Dad, come on in" 

Martin looked embarrassed, assuming he was intruding upon a honeymoon. But visibly relaxed when he realized they were both dressed. He had to admit it looked a little strange at first getting used to seeing his son in bed with Roz. "I didn't know if you had made other arrangements with such a quick wedding, and I'm not trying to be a busybody, but I just thought you might have forgotten you have a show in 2 hours." 

"What?" They both sat up quickly and jumped out of bed. "Thank you Dad, I had no idea how late it was." 

"Anytime guys," Martin said as he exited to allow them to get ready for work. 

"I'll run down to the nursery and take a shower there, plus some of my clothes are hanging in there since I don't have time to unpack the boxes." Roz said as she pulled on a robe and prepared to leave. 

"Right" Frasier agreed, already grabbing a robe and heading to his own bathroom. 

_LATER_

They entered the recording booth 2 minutes before the show started to find Bulldog and Gil Chesterton arguing over who would get their time slot. "Some of us have a show to do so I suggest you leave." Frasier rushed them out as he took his position at the booth. 

"I guess we'll have to tell everyone about the wedding after the show since we're so late." Roz said through the microphone, right before switching the button to accept calls. 

Frasier nodded his agreement as the phone rang and the show started. 

"And we have time for one more caller." Frasier announced, just a few minutes before the show was to end. 

"We have Jocelyn on line one." Roz announced, glad that the hour was almost over. 

"Hi Jocelyn, this is Dr. Frasier Crane, and what can I do for you today." Frasier said warmly. 

"Oh hi Dr. Crane, I know this is extremely forward and I'm almost embarrassed to be saying this but I just have to say that you have the smoothest sexiest voice on radio and I listen to you every day. I know this is forward but I would love a chance to have a date with you sometime." 

Frasier and Roz were both speechless as they weren't sure how to handle this. Finally Frasier cleared his throat, feeling like he was walking through a minefield. 

"Jocelyn, I have to say that is very sweet, and I'm so glad you called to tell me that. So often a radio personality does not receive feedback on how their voices are perceived. So I appreciate the positive feelings." 

He waited to see if she took that as enough closure, but it was obvious by her silence that she was awaiting a response to her suggestion about a date. 

"And I must say I'm extremely flattered that you would like a date, but ahhh you see.... *clearing throat again* I just recently got married and I don't think my wife would approve." He finished quickly, hoping too many people hadn't heard that part of the broadcast. 

"I don't see why you would make this up," Jocelyn started sounding tearful, I read the society pages every day and I know I would have noticed if you had gotten married. 

"Yes well, it wasn't in the society pages," Frasier was starting to get upset at her persistence, and yet maintain a professional tone. 

"Did you get someone in trouble then," the caller queried, causing Frasier to lose his temper. 

"No I did not get anyone in trouble, I married my producer Roz after we realized that we were in love, and I must say she doesn't appreciate you coming onto me like this, you should see the daggers she's glaring." Frasier finished, almost laughing when he turned to see Roz laughing so hard at his predicament that she almost had tears streaming down her face. 

"Goodbye Jocelyn, and have a good evening Seattle, this is Dr. Frasier Crane wishing you all mental health." He finished taking off the headphones and sighing at the announcement he had just made. 

"Oh Frasier that was priceless," Roz was still laughing as she entered the booth. 

"So much for secrecy huh? I've just announced it to all of Seattle." 

Before Roz could respond the door burst open and the room was suddenly crowded as Bulldog, Gil, and Kenny along with a few other coworkers burst in. 

"Frasier, is what you said true." Kenny elected himself as spokesperson for the group. 

"Well that depends, which part." Frasier hedged. 

"The part about you the highbrow shrink hooking up with the incredibly hot Roz here," Bulldog spoke up candidly. 

"Oh yes, that part, well we were planning to make the announcement later." Frasier was embarrassed. 

"Oh Lord it's true, I may faint" Gil started to swoon. 

"Geez Gil, it's not the end of the world." Roz piped up trying to act nonchalant. 

"I can't say I'm terribly surprised" Kenny said, "I've seen the chemistry between you for quite some time, I just never thought you two would act on it considering what different walks of life your from." 

"Well we did and we acted on it and now you all know so all there is to it right." Frasier said shortly. 

The group stood stunned for a few more moments and then began to utter their own congratulations to the unlikely couple as they filed out of the office." 

"I suppose we'll be in the society column tomorrow" Frasier sighed after everyone had left. 

"Yes, well Rick can just put that in his pipe and smoke it, maybe it will scare him off before he even begins." Roz said hopefully.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. 10

frasier

Chapter 10

The afternoon and evening passed quickly as Roz and Frasier unpacked the boxes from her apartment fixing up the nursery for Alice. Frasier managed to bite his tongue at some of the decorations Roz pulled out that clashed hideously with his decor. She was already on edge enough with Rick, and with everything changing so fast he knew she would likely snap if he came down on her also. 

When Niles and Daphne brought Alice back late that evening all the unpacking was essentially done and Roz and Alice were pretty much officially moved in to Frasiers apartment. Niles and Daphne both stopped and immediately started surveying the noticeable changes that had been made. 

"Frasier, your apartment...." Niles was stunned at the change in the decor. "What happened?" 

"It doesn't look that different, we just did a little bit of childproofing as well as moving some priceless antiques out of the way of tiny fingers." Frasier tried to sound nonchalant in his response, while watching the happy reunion between Roz and Alice. One would think they had been seperated for weeks the way Roz carried on. 

"I can't believe you're taking it this calmly, Niles just about had a fit when I tried to touch up our place. I've already been preparing for him to go crazy when I had to start moving things after the baby." Daphne laughed. 

"You understimate me my love, I can handle a little rearrangement here and there........ but out of curiousity, what things would you be moving?" Niles tried to sound cavalier but one could easily detect the note of concern beneath his words. 

"I knew it, I shouldn't have brought it up," Daphne groaned, "Just forget about it for now, we've still got 6 months before the baby comes." 

"Yes but in therapuetic terms the earlier one starts dealing with traumatic events the better." Niles voice took on a noticeably anxious tone as he began to follow her into the kitchen. 

"You sound like you're comparing this to a bloody earthquake." Daphne's voice began to rise as she started gettting upset. 

"Well pardon me for being concerned about my apartment...." 

"Your apartment? Last I checked I lived there to, you know I'm getting tired...." Their argument continued as they both went out of hearing range. 

"Looks like trouble in paradise for the lovebirds" Frasier commented 

"Yeah, can't believe someone can get so uptight over a few silly figurines and paintings." Roz said, not noticing the sympathetic expression on Frasier's face for his brother. 

"Yes well, I guess some people just don't realize what's more important in life." Frasier said gamely, still feeling a pang at seeing his precious belongings disturbed . Though he had to admit he was probably feeling less pained than he would if he saw one of them smashed on the floor, falling and hurting Alice, or even worse for her to turn one of his paintings into a canvas for her own fingerpainting endeavors. 

"I didn't think they'd make it" Roz's voice brought Frasier back from his thoughts. 

"Make what?" 

"Make it as a couple obviously, look at how they were arguing." Roz explained. 

"Why, just because they're having a little fight? Married couples do that Roz, it doesn't signify the end of a marriage. Well if it's over furniture, if it's over another woman perhaps, but not something like this." Frasier explained, laughing at Roz's seriousness. 

"Well pardon me for not being real clued in to this marriage thing." She started getting angry. 

"Whoa whoa, Roz, calm down." Frasier didn't understand where her anger was coming from. "I know you haven't been married before, but..." He followed her to the sofa where she had sat down, picking up Alice and seeming to shut out whatever he was saying. 

"OK, Roz, look at me" Frasier sat down and reached over to touched her arm, causing her to look up at him. 

"Look, let's just drop it, they're the ones arguing anyway, not us." 

"No, I can't let it go, it doesn't take a trained psychiatrist to realize that I just hit a nerve. Now why don't you tell me what it is?" 

"Now Daphne, I told you it was just an accidental statement..." Niles pleaded as they re-emerged from the kitchen. 

"Sure, it was one of those Freudian slip things wasn't it, you didn't mean to say it but you meant it!" Daphne was still fuming as she picked up her purse and opened the door. Niles didn't even hesitate to say goodbye as he charged out after her. 

"And there they go." Frasier commented after a moment of silence before turning back to look at Roz. 

"Look Frasier, I'm sorry if I overreacted, but I really don't want to talk about it." 

Frasier remained silent, sensing by her nonverbal cues that she was ready to talk despite her assertions to the opposite. 

"It's not a big deal, it's just that my Mom and Dad were always constantly fighting. Kind of like Daphne and Niles were, just a lot louder. You say it's a normal things that all married couples do, but I had watched my parents tear each other down for 10 years before they finally divorced. It was a relief to have an end to the constant fighting, but then came the battles over me. When I went to Dad's he would insult my Mom and her new boyfriends, and then the same things happened when I was with my Mom. I just don't have a very good opinion of marriages, and when I see a couple fight, I just automatically think they must not love each other." Roz finished still not meeting Frasiers eyes. 

Amazed at her sudden depth of discussion Frasier paused a moment before he replied. "I didn't know your parents, so I can't say what caused them to be like that. But in many many cases when a husband and wife fight, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. Look at Niles and Daphne, you saw how they were fighting, but I guarantee you that by tomorrow they'll act like it never happened. And I can remember when Mom and Dad used to fight, they had some real doozies, but their love for each other was never a question. So not to pry, but is this perhaps why you've never married before?" 

"That's part of it, I always thought that no matter how great the guy was, once it got serious we'd end up hating each other. And then especially after Alice was born, I swore I'd never make her have to endure a unhappy home." 

"And yet you married me." Frasier said quietly. 

"But that was different, it was to keep her, and besides we're best friends." Roz tried to lighten the mood, suddenly feeling nervous for some unexplained reason. 

Not to be deterred however Frasier continued to discuss the issue. "And as you should know by now after listening to me tell this to hundreds of callers, friendship is one of the most solid bases for marriage. Think of it this way Roz, lets say, just for the sake of argument that our marriage had been real. And lets say that right now I started saying something like, oh.... I can't stand that hideous clown snowglobe thing on my veneered oak coffee table what would you say?" 

"I would say that Alice loves it, it makes her feel more at home and to deal with it." Roz's temper started to flare. 

"There you see, you're getting angry. And let's say I was equally angry, we'd fight, see what I mean." 

"No I don't see what you mean, except that you don't want Alice to feel at home here in your little shrine to the antique world." Her voice continued to rise. 

"Roz you're missing the point. I was just using that as an example." Frasier said in a soothing tone. Roz appeared to settle down slightly but didn't respond. "Listen, now lets say we had just had this argument. And think about this for a minute. Would you doubt that I was still your best friend?" 

"Frasier thats silly, of course not." Roz laughed as the tension was broken. 

"And considering for a moment that if our marriage had been real and that we were in love, would you head straight for divorce court over a clown snow globe?" 

"Okay, okay, I understand what you mean, my parents problems were probably a lot deeper than many marriages. Perhaps that rumor about my Dad being forced into the marriage with a shotgun wasn't just a story." Roz started pondering. 

"Hi guys, hope I'm not interrupting anything" Martin announced as he walked in the front door with Eddie, effectively putting an end to the introspection. 

"No Dad, not a thing." Frasier said easily, breaking the momentary silence that had arisen while Roz had been digesting what he had been saying. 

"I suppose not with Alice here, by the way I love what you've done with the place Frasier, looks much less sterile. Actually looks like people live here." Martin praised as he looked around at Roz's handiwork. 

"Thank you Martin, do you think this globe is to much?" Roz spoke up, indicating the aforementioned snow globe on the table. 

"Not at all, I think it not only adds a nice touch, but it makes the house look more child friendly. Let me guess, Frasier doesn't like it." Martin teased. 

"Nonsense, I love it." Frasier almost growled, "now are we going to sit here all night or eat dinner?."   
  



	11. 11

frasier Chapter 11

"My goodness Frasier, it's already 11:30!" Roz exclaimed as they all finished supper. 

"So what, we don't have to be at work till noon." Frasier was sitting back in his chair enjoying the aftertaste of the rich chocolate mousse they had eaten for dessert. 

"Don't you remember, we have that meeting first thing in the morning." Roz nudged him under the table, met with an obviously blank expression from Frasier in response. 

Though not sure of what exactly, Martin felt like something was going on and abruptly excused himself. "Well it's getting awfully late for these old bones, goodnight kids." Martin stood and stretched as he began to leave. 

"Goodnight Dad." Frasier called after him. 

"What meeting, I talked with Kenny just today and he didn't say anything about a meeting." He said as soon as Martin's door had closed. 

"Duh Frasier, for being so smart you can be awfully forgetful sometimes." Roz teased him affectionately. 

"You think I'm smart?" Frasier's head perked up as he almost visibly started puffing up. 

"Geez, every compliment goes straight to your head doesn't it?" Roz couldn't help but laugh. 

"Well I'm sorry, I'm just not used to you saying such nice things to me." Frasier snapped back defensively. "So what's this meeting I'm forgetting?" His tone had gotten slightly sour. 

"Oh lighten up Fras, I swear you are so sensitive sometimes." Roz gave him a pat on the shoulder as she stood up and began collecting dishes. "The meeting with Laura, at 8 am. And considering she's on the other side of town we'll need to leave here by 7 am at the latest. 

"You're right, I had completely forgotten." Frasier acknowledged as he picked up the rest of the dishes and followed her into the kitchen. 

"Let's not bother with the dishes tonight, since we have to be up so early." Frasier said as they began piling the dishes in the sink and Roz turned on the water. 

"I know we do, but if they aren't done tonight then they'll be sitting around till tomorrow night, and then we'll have twice as many to do. "Here I'll wash, and you can dry." Roz said as she tossed him a dishtowel. 

"You know it's at times like this that I really miss Daphne." Frasier sighed. 

"I'm sure she'd love to hear that sentiment." Roz laughed. "It's at times like this I miss a working dishwasher. Any idea when the repairman is going to come." 

"I haven't the faintest idea, I'll call him again tomorrow." Frasier promised as they continued washing dishes. 

They had just finished and were heading into the living room when Roz remembered something. "We never figured out any alternative sleeping arrangements did we?" 

"Oh shoot, I forgot." Frasier stopped and thought. One could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "I don't know, umm.... you take the bed and I'll....." he was once again stumped. 

"Look, your bed is huge, let's just share again and we can figure it out tomorrow, it's already midnight." Roz sighed, too tired to try to figure anything else out. "That is if you think you can restrain yourself." She teased. 

""I think I should be the one afraid of that, you were the one curled up to me this morning as I recall." Frasier's tone was smug. 

"Ok ok, I promise not to invade your side of the bed." Roz shot back playfully as they went into his room. 

_NEXT MORNING 5:30 a.m. BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Frasier groaned as he reached over and hit the snooze button, snickering as he realized in the morning twilight that the still sleeping Roz was curled up to him. Not able to resist the opportunity to tease her for moving over he decided to wait the two minutes till the alarm would come back on. He couldn't wait for her to realize what she had done so he could tease her about it all day. He wished it would hurry up though, his arm was asleep. He took a moment to assess their position, surprised at how nice it felt to have her so close. Not that he would tell her that of course. Her head was once again on his shoulder, and her arm was casually slung across his stomach, His left arm was almost completely numb beneath her, she had obviously been laying on it for quite some time. _"Kind of like waking up in a hug,"_ he mused right before the alarm went off again. 

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The alarm sounded again, though this time he didn't shut it off until he could tell by Roz's breathing and a slight groan that she was waking up. 

He playfully nudged her shoulder as he whispered. "Hey Roz, remember what you said about not crossing over to my side of the bed." He snickered. 

Roz was still for a moment as she took stock of the situation and then sat up to look around, causing him to grunt as she pushed herself up by using the hand on his stomach. Then after a moment she grinned slightly as she laid back down, resuming her former position. "I really don't care Frasier, but it's funny that you did this after the lecture you gave me." Roz mumbled as she curled up trying to go back to sleep. 

"I don't know what you mean," Frasier started laughing. "After what we said last night and now you're all snuggled up to me, obviously you were the one....." His voice broke off as he suddenly realized that Roz was right and she was still on her side of the bed. Turning slightly pink he disentangled himself from Roz and leapt from the bed. "Time to start getting ready." He shook her shoulder gently to make sure she wouldn't go back to sleep. She finally sat up groggily and he raced for the bathroom to take his shower, since they were now running behind schedule. 

_LATER_

"Whew 7:59, we just made it." Frasier wheezed as they entered Laura's waiting room. 

"Frasier I know you like to be punctual but did we really have to run all the way from the parking lot?" Roz was trying to catch her breath. 

"Pardon me for not wanting to be late." Frasier said just as the receptionist motioned for them to enter. 

"Well hello again you two, and congratulations." Laura was grinning when they entered the office. Though I'm going to have to add a dry cleaning charge to your bill. I was in my car sipping coffee when I heard the little impromptu wedding announcement on your show and spilled it all over myself while laughing." 

"I really don't see why I should have to pay for your lack of ability to control yourself while you were drinking, but..." Frasier was getting defensive. 

"Frasier, she's only kidding" Roz reached over to grab his arm and stop him, laughing along with Laura at how seriously he was taking it. 

Frasier visibly relaxed when he realized it was a joke. "I'm sorry Laura, I'm just not much of an early bird I guess." 

"Yeah, he kinda got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Roz snickered, causing Frasier to blush. 

"But anyway..." Frasier said, obviously trying to change the topic. "Has there been any feedback from Rick's camp since the wedding announcement?" 

"Not a word, it's been oddly quiet. My guess would be that they're rethinking their strategy. 

So the plan might have worked?" Frasier looked smug, "wonder what we should do now?" 

"Don't get to confident, we don't know how they're going to react yet. But let me stress once again, as your legal representative that I am bound by the ethics of client responsibility to not divulge this plot to anyone else, but I cannot legally condone what you two have done to the system, so don't plan on asking me for advice on how to proceed with the marriage. " She tried to sound stern as she laid down the ethical boundaries, but it was hard since she was wondering to herself if they were the only two people still not aware of what a good couple they made. And she thought, though she knew she could be wrong, that she detected more than friendship dynamics at work here. Would probably take them forever to admit it to themselves though. 

That's OK Laura, I understand. But is it to offensive if we brainstorm in front of you from time to time." Roz queried. 

"No not at all, like I said, just recall that I cannot give any advice or be credited for any ideas you two may come up with." Laura clarified. 

"We figured that the longer Rick takes to act the better, right?" Frasier said. 

Definitely, the longer things take the more stable your marriage will look. But they'll probably realize that so things may speed up. You could be served with papers as early as next week." 

"But it's already Thursday." Roz was alarmed. 

"Calm down Roz, we just have to keep playing this to the hilt and see what happens." Frasier tried to sound objective. 

"Not to change the subject, but I need to find out how things are going, how everyone is coping with this change so I will know what we might expect in court. Roz, the most important person in all this is Alice, what have you told her and how does she seem to be adjusting to all this?" 

"I don't think she's told her anything." Frasier piped up, suddenly alarmed. 

"Geez Frasier, what kind of mother do you think I am. You think I would uproot my daughter and change her whole little life without saying anything about it." Roz rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Before the elopement I just kind of explained to her that some things were changing and that her Uncle Frasier would be around a lot more. I told her we were getting married, but I'm not sure she understood what that was." 

"I see, and how did she react." Laura pressed for further details. 

"Oh she didn't seem to really be fazed, just smiled and kept playing. Then she was at the wedding of course, and oh would you like to see pictures?" Roz started digging in her purse and handed the 2 snapshots over to Laura. 

"Very nice, and very convincing." Laura commented as she looked at the pictures. She could swear she detected some definite reality to them despite the deception involved. "So back to Alice, what about the living arrangements." Laura asked as she returned the photo's to Roz. 

"Oh, well we moved in with Frasier, decided that it would be better, his building has a daycare facility, round the clock security, and more room also. I explained to Alice that we were moving in with him, and she would have a new room. She was excited, and seems to love her new room. Overall she seems to be adjusting rather well." Roz finished happily, "oh and this morning while taking her to daycare she asked if Frasier was her daddy now like Charles was Marita's daddy." 

"Who in the world is Marita?" Frasier spoke up. 

:"Oh she's a little playmate of Alice's, her parents have helped out by keeping Alice for me sometimes. 

"So what did you tell her." Laura leaned forward. 

"Well I wasn't real sure what to say, so I said yes, but in a different way. She seemed to accept that without asking further questions." 

"I see, I would wonder though how it will affect her when this is all over when you two go your separate ways." Laura observed causing both Frasier and Roz to start as they realized they had never thought of that before. 

"I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Frasier finally said as he sat back, though he knew, as did Roz that they would obviously have to figure this out more later. 

"It probably sounds selfish, but right now I can't look beyond the custody battle." Roz admitted quietly. 

"That's understandable," Laura's tone softened. "So Frasier, how is your family taking it?" 

"Oh they're fine with it, Niles was a little thrown at first. But I think his main issue was that I would get married without consulting him." 

"That and he thinks I'm the town slut." Roz added wryly. 

Frasier ignored the comment, not wanting to validate Roz's statement. "But otherwise the rest of the family was excited. Daphne and Dad even said they expected it, can you believe it?" He laughed. 

"Yeah, even the people at the station said they weren't really surprised" Roz added laughing along with Frasier. 

"Well except for Gil who wasn't revived until someone waved a McDonald's cheeseburger under his nose." Frasier laughed at the recollection. 

"I see, well last not but definitely not least I'd like to know about the two of you, I know this has had to really change your lives." 

"Well aside from having my social life abruptly halted I'm fine" Roz said lightly. 

"I didn't even have a social life to interrupt, so aside from having 2 new people in my apartment things are pretty much the same." Frasier shrugged. 

"Well you two are definitely handling this well, of course you've only been married for a few days now, it will be interesting to see how things develop. The society column said you'd be spending your weekend on a honeymoon, is that true?" 

"Oh that, we had to tell people we were going on a honeymoon so we're taking Alice and going to Disney." 

Laura coughed, clearing her throat. 

"You don't think that's a good idea?" Frasier immediately straightened up nervously. 

"She can't say anything though, remember Frasier." Roz studied Laura, trying to get an idea of what she was thinking. 

"Maybe Disney isn't romantic enough." Frasier pondered. 

"Or maybe taking Alice with us is the problem, is that it?" Roz suggested. 

"That could be it, I guess most newlyweds don't take a child with them on a honeymoon." Frasier tentatively agreed. 

"Well what else can we plan on such short notice?" 

"I know, Niles and I timeshare on a beach house down on the coast. We could leave Alice with Niles and Daphne and we could just go to their and consider it a mini-vacation." Frasier was brainstorming. 

"That could be fun, a break from the station and nothing to do but soak up some sun. " Roz agreed. 

"OK, so that's settled." They both grinned and looked at Laura. 

_"I guess now's not the time to tell them that I really just had a tickle in my throat." _ Laura thought to herself as she smiled neutrally at the couple. _"Besides it could be very interesting to see where this leads. I'm still thinking this could very well be something bigger than they both realize."_   
  



	12. 12

frasier Chapter 12

""So we're all packed for morning, right?" Roz asked as they finished putting up the dishes and were preparing to put Alice to bed. 

"Yes, we can leave for the airport right after the show tomorrow." Frasier agreed, hanging up the dishtowel. 

"I'm glad Niles and Daphne could take Alice on such short notice. I'm going to miss her so much while we are gone." Roz sighed. 

"We'll be back before you know it," Frasier assured her as he scooped up Alice from her pile of blocks to carry her back to the nursery. 

"I know, the time will fly." Roz agreed as she took Alice from Frasier and tried to lay her in her bed. Alice though had other ideas as she clung to her mother. "Alice, let go honey, it's time for bed." Roz tried getting her daughter to release her. "I swear Frasier this isn't like her." 

"Did you tell her we were going away?" 

"Yes, of course I did. I told her she was going to spend the weekend with her Uncle Niles and Aunt Daphne and we would be back in no time. She didn't get upset though." Roz was unsure of what this new behavior by Alice could mean. "Do you think she's sick, maybe I should take her to the doctor." 

"Roz, calm down, you forget you're talking to a trained psychiatrist here.... as well as a father. Frederick did the exact same thing the first time Lilith and I were leaving him alone for a weekend. She just knows you're going and is going to miss you." 

"Oh, good, then it's nothing serious, what should I do." Roz said cuddling Alice, who was obviously happy with the change. 

"You essentially have 2 options, both of which are highly debatable in many psychiatric circles. One is to make her lay down and leave her in her bed crying, or let her sleep with you. Now the potential negative impact of leaving her in bed crying is...." 

"Oh hush Frasier, I'm not in the mood for psychobabble right now, I need to sleep. Those are the same two options I had when she was an infant and would cry at night. I'm going to do the same thing I did then." Roz stated as she began carrying Alice out of the room. "So what did you and Lilith do when Frederick was throwing the fit?" 

"We had a debate all night long over the different theories and the validity of the psychiatric viewpoints. We finally decided to let him stay in the bed and cry, when we realized it was daylight and he had fallen asleep while we were arguing." Frasier smiled, slightly amused by the memory as he mechanically picked up his pajama's and headed into the bathroom to change. 

"So is there still room for me in this little party?" He asked when he returned to see Roz and Alice snuggled down into his bed. 

"Geez Frasier, she's a little girl, not a linebacker." Roz laughed, "Just stay on your side this time," she teased him, laughing. 

Ignoring the assault Frasier just gave a signature glare as he pulled back the covers and crawled into the bed. 

"Night Roz, Night Alice," He said as he reached over to turn off the light. 

"Goodnight Fras, goodnight sweetie." Roz replied as she settled down in the bed. 

"G'nite mommy 'n daddy." Alice whispered as she rolled over to curl up to a stunned Frasier. 

You could have heard a pin drop for the next few minutes as Frasier and Roz stared at the ceiling, not quite sure how to react. 

_"She called me Daddy, wow she must really adore me. But what about when Roz and I split back up? I wonder what Roz is thinking about this latest development."_ Frasier was panicking silently, though he couldn't fight the warm feeling that had shot through him at what Alice had said. 

_"Oh no, I bet Frasier is freaking out. Wonder if I should say anything to Alice or just let her keep calling him Daddy. On one hand it's great that they're getting that close for the custody hearing, but how will she react when this is all over and he is just Uncle Frasier again. Is there any harm in her calling him Daddy?"_ Roz's mind was racing also but she couldn't bring herself to say anything and drifted to sleep still thinking. 

All to soon the alarm clock rang went off, waking them up. Frasier shut it off and sleepily realized that Alice had her little arms wrapped around his neck, still sleeping. "Psstt... hey Roz," he nudged her under the covers, she had covered her head with a pillow trying to go back to sleep. 

"Whhhaaattttt...I only wanted 5 more minutes." She whined as she sat up, but stopped when she saw the cause for his nudge. "Awww look at her, isn't she sleeping so soundly. I almost hate to wake her up." Roz smiled at her daughter, sleeping so soundly nestled up to Frasier. 

"Here I'll take her" She reached over to pick up the sleeping Alice and carry her to the nursery. "I'll get her ready to go, and we can drop her off on our way to the station. Frasier nodded as he picked up a towel and headed to the shower. He couldn't help feeling a paternal instinct as they left. 

_LATER_

"I still don't see why we couldn't drive." Roz complained as they boarded the plane that would carry them to the California coast. 

"I already told you it would be 14 hours of driving, and that was just a little to much in my opinion for a weekend trip." Frasier grouchily replied. "You've complained for the last hour about this flight, I don't understand why, unless you're afraid of flying or something." 

"Wellll....." Roz said, the tension obvious on her face. 

"You're kidding me, you're afraid of flying?" Frasier laughed. 

"It's not funny Frasier" Roz was clinging to the chair handles as the plane started taxiing down the runway. 

"Oh calm down, what's the worst that could happen?" He tried to reassure her as he took her hand, surprised at how suddenly cold and clammy it was. 

"Let's see we could plummet 10,000 feet to the ground and die in a flaming pile of debris." Roz's tone was sarcastic. "I'll be okay though, I'll just do what I usually do on a plane." She motioned for the flight attendant. "Vodka please!" 

"Getting drunk is not the answer Roz," Frasier took the drink away before she could gulp it down. 

"Oh c'mon, don't make me endure this flight without alcohol." Roz whimpered. 

"Sorry, but just think of how psychologically rewarding it will be when we land and you haven't had to drink." Frasier assured her. 

"Yeah, uhh whatever, oh good the seatbelt sign went off, I've got to go to the bathroom." Roz stood up and headed quickly to the back of the plane. 

"I can't believe she's afraid of flying," Frasier chuckled to himself as he opened a magazine waiting for her return. 

"Hey, guess who I saw back in the coach section," Roz said as she returned several minutes later. 

"It certainly took you long enough, I was beginning to wonder. So who did you see?" Frasier replied as he closed the magazine back up. 

"Vince Collins, a guy I used to date a couple years ago." Roz laughed, seeming much more relaxed. 

"The plane left from Seattle and he's the only guy on here that you've dated?" Frasier said in mock surprise. 

"Oh hush," Roz laughed in his face, making Frasier grimace as the smell of alcohol filled the air. 

"Roz, you were drinking!" He accused. 

"Too late to stop me now though," she laughed, obviously unconcerned.   


The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, though Roz had to hold onto Frasier's arm for support while they disembarked. She had made a couple more trips "to the restroom" after the plane had hit turbulence. 

"I love this weather!" She shouted as they exited the airport into the hot California sun. 

"Roz, you're loaded. We'd better get to the beachhouse before you pass out." Frasier gently prodded her into a waiting cab, as he carried the two suitcases and placed them into the trunk. 

They arrived at the beachhouse just a little bit before sunset as Frasier paid the driver and carried the bags, and almost had to carry Roz indoors. 

"I certainly hope you aren't planning to do this for the flight back." He huffed as he sat the suitcases in the living room. 

"Mmmmm whatever, just point me to where I can sleep, nice place by the way," Roz commented as she walked around the beachhouse in a daze. There was a spacious living room, with kitchen to the side. A marble floor, white lacquer cabinets and granite countertops. There was a sliding glass door that lead to a large tiled balcony complete with a small jacuzzi and lounge chairs to enjoy the sun. The one bedroom in the house was also quite luxurious, boasting a waterbed and decorated in burgundy and stained hardwood. The adjoining bathroom also looked fairly spacious and was nicely decorated. "This will be a great vacation." Roz mumbled as she laid down on the bed, sleepy due to the drinks she had consumed on the plane, almost falling asleep instantly. 

"Well goodnight to you too." Frasier murmured as he placed her suitcase in the room and went into the kitchen, opening a can of peaches since the meal on the flight had definitely been substandard. He also made a mental note to go shopping first thing in the morning for some fresher food than the few cans of food in the cupboards. There wasn't much point in keeping it well stocked considering how rarely it was used. Niles and Daphne had been there once or twice soon after their marriage, and he had been down once for a vacation, but it remained empty a good deal of the time. 

Though the night was still young he still felt tired after the long day and it didn't take him long to change into shorts and a t-shirt and grab a blanket and a pillow and curl up on the large sofa for the night, totally unaware of the person lurking on the balcony.   
  



	13. 13

frasier Chapter 13

_Morning_

Roz yawned as she began waking up, it felt so wonderful to be able to luxuriate in bed without an alarm clock going off. She found herself automatically reaching for Frasier, sitting up when she realized he wasn't there, she could tell by looking at the sheets that he hadn't spent the night there. _"Of course, we're away from his apartment, he's probably relieved to be able to sleep alone again." _ She stumbled to the bathroom for a shower. 

After her shower she quickly dressed and walked out, smelling the wonderful odors coming from the kitchen. "Mmmm.... what are you cooking." She asked Frasier, her mouth already watering. 

"It's about time you woke up," Frasier said cheerfully, not turning from the stove. "I went grocery shopping earlier while you slept, and started cooking when I heard the shower start. I hope you like this, it's a garden fresh omelette. It contains roasted red pepper, spinach leaves, sauteed mushrooms, parmesan cheese, and for garnishment just a sprinkle of fresh basil" Frasier finished the mouthwatering description as he flipped the omelet out of the pan and turned around while sprinking the basil on top. 

"There is one good thing about you being such a morning person, having breakfast ready for me when I wake up." Roz grinned as she eyed the omelette, trying to restrain herself from jumping right in while Frasier was busily fixing another. 

"There's toast and juice on the table if you'd like to sit down, I'll be there in a minute." He called over his shoulder as she was already moving to sit down. 

"Mmmmmm...... this is delicious" she practically moaned as she savored the first bite, you should give up psychiatry and become a chef. 

"Now Roz, where are your manners, you're supposed to wait for me you know." Frasier announced, seemingly offended as he approached the table with his own plate. Though he was secretly pleased at how much she was enjoying it. Nothing more was said as they both busily concentrated on cleaning their plates . 

"I think I need to go back to bed now," Roz yawned as she rubbed her now full stomach. 

"Well if you like, it's your vacation also, I however am going to go out and look at the beach." Frasier arose and carried the two plates to the kitchen, taking only moments to get all the dishes in the dishwasher and wipe off the counters. 

"Oh that's right, we're at the beach, I almost forgot," Roz ran to the windows to look out. "Oh wow, what a view. I want to go with you, just let me get my bathing suit." She scrambled back to the room almost like an excited child. She emerged a few moments later in shorts and t-shirt, with her hair up in a ponytail. 

_LATER_

"I love the smell of the salt air, and this warm breeze." Roz said later as they walked along the beach. "The sound of the waves is so relaxing, I can almost forget for a moment that my whole world could fall apart at any time." 

"Yes, many psychologists have written on the therapeutic effects that the sound of the ocean is suppose to have, I believe Carl Jung was one of the first..." Frasier began. 

"Oh hush Frasier, can't you talk like a normal person for a change. I'm not Niles, I don't thrill in or even understand all this psychiatric history stuff. I just know I like the beach and the feelings it brings." Roz said gently, trying not to sound too critical. 

"Of course Roz, no more shop talk." Frasier agreed sighing as they continued their walk. 

"Ooooh look over there," Roz pointed to a group of guys playing volleyball on the beach. 

"Roz, I hate to remind you but you're not exactly free to date around at the moment." Frasier smiled, aware of the thoughts going through her mind. 

"I know I know, but I can look can't I?" Roz pouted. 

"Certainly, just as I can. Now there's one lifeguard that might make almost drowning worth it." Frasier said as his eyes drifted up to a young female lifeguard watching the people in the water. 

"Ok, ok -- I get your point." Roz laughed in mock jealousy as she swatted him on the shoulder. 

Laughing companionably they continued down the beach, pointing at various sailboats and parts of the scenery. 

"You know Fras, this is one of the best times I've had in......." Roz's voice broke off as she had turned to look at Frasier and noticed someone else out of the corner of her eye. 

"Something wrong Roz," Frasier noticed how her voice had broken off. 

"Just keep walking" she said, suddenly loosing the carefree attitude. 

"What's the matter Roz." 

"That guy from the airplane, Vince. The guy I used to date is walking behind us. Has been for several moments now." She seemed nervous. 

"So was he a criminal or something, should we be worried. You do have a strange taste in boyfriends," Frasier almost whispered back. 

"No, actually he was a private investigator. Not a very good one, but that was his profession." 

"Could his presence here just be coincidence?" 

"I don't know but I intend to find out," Roz said as she suddenly slowed giving Vince time to catch up, then quickly whirled around and walked up to him, grabbing him by the camera strap around his neck and dragging him to the trees nearby. Frasier just followed dumbstruck at her sudden aggressiveness. 

"OK Vince, spill!" Roz commanded. 

"Oh, nice to see you again, Roz isn't it?" Vince smiled weakly. 

"Spare me the innocence act, what are you doing walking around the beach behind us with a Polaroid camera." Roz wouldn't release the hold on him. 

"Roz, calm down. It could be just a coincidence." Frasier tried to smooth over the situation, embarrassed over Roz's behavior and the obvious panic in Vince's face. 

"Yeah, just a coincidence." Vince echoed meekly. 

"Oh please, you couldn't find a missing dog in a dog pound, much less making enough money to make a trip like this. So who's paying you?" 

"Look, I'm just down here on vacation," he persisted. "Hey you can't look in there." He got anxious as she picked up his camera bag and started looking through it. Suddenly realizing Roz might be onto something Frasier grabbed the guys arm to keep him from interfering with her search. 

"Well would you look at these," Roz announced triumphantly as she picked up sever pictures. "I suppose you just happened to be walking by the beachhouse patio last night as well." She said as she passed the pictures to Frasier. 

Knowing he was caught Vince gulped and sat down. "OK, fine then, you caught me, but that still doesn't mean that I don't already have evidence to bury this sham of a marriage you two have going on." He shot back, suddenly trying to sound brave. 

"Oh stuff it Vince," Roz took the pictures away. I don't suppose you want your little secret to get out do you?" Vince audibly gulped and the false bravado disappeared at her threat. 

"What secret?" Frasier asked, obviously lost. 

"Oh just a little something about a certain private eye using his skills to enter a highly restricted access building, just to impress his girlfriend." Roz said in a sing-song voice, obviously enjoying tormenting Vince. 

"OK, ok.... what do you want me to do?" He caved. "I knew I shouldn't take this assignment when I heard the details, but I was so desperate for cash..." 

"Oh quit whimpering, just cooperate and we'll all get along just fine." Roz sat back smiling. 

Frasier meanwhile was completely astonished at how quickly Roz had turned the tables and turned a potentially bad situation into their favor. He could tell Vince wasn't the most strong-willed person, but it was obvious he had just been completely overpowered. Roz was definitely not one that let people walk over her, he marveled as he listened to Roz lay out the plan. 

"Since you were hired to investigate this marriage I assume that Rick and that little wife of his are worried, correct?" 

"I'm not sure, I just know that I was told that it was highly important that I find out the truth behind the marriage, and a bonus if I proved it to be false." Vince gulped. 

"Well forget your bonus from them, because you are going to do no such thing." Roz grinned. "We will have a few photo shoots where all you get are pictures of the "happy newlyweds", and you'll sadly have to report to your boss that everything seems on the level. Look at the bright side though, now you don't have to work as much and can spend a little more time relaxing." 

Vince visibly brightened at the suggestion, there were a lot of things he wouldn't mind doing on the bosses tab besides spying on Roz and Frasier. Besides he wasn't the most ethical guy in the world, didn't really care if they're marriage was real or not. And from the little bit he had heard, he realized what the stakes were. So he didn't especially care to see Roz lose her kid over this whole mess. So it wasn't a stretch for him to drop his morals and go along with her plan. 

"Have you got a phone number where we can reach you?" Roz said, shaking him out of his daze. 

"Oh uhh, yeah, here's my cellphone number." He said pulling out a piece of paper and writing. "I'll be calling the office to check in a little later, and will be sure to tell them that so far things are looking normal." 

"Be sure that you do, because we will find out if you turn double agent, and you will pay." Roz said in the most threatening tone she could. 

"Right, just let me know when and where and I'll be there with my camera." Vince agreed readily. 

"No time like the present is there Frasier, since you're already here Vince. Why don't you pull out that film and put in a new roll." Roz suggested as Vince hastily complied. 

"So let's see here, Scene 1, newlyweds at the beach." She grabbed Frasiers hand and pulled herself back up. 

"Right, just make sure it doesn't look to staged." Vince suggested. 

"What are we going to do Roz," Frasier seemed unsure of himself at the sudden change in events. 

"Relax Fras, I'm not saying we're going to do anything involving public nudity, though if we were this would be the place..." She teased lightly causing Frasier to gasp. "Chill, we're just going to be a little more affectionate than usual, ready Vince?" 

"Now lets continue that walk shall we?" She said as she fell back into step beside Frasier, Vince once again following as she put her arm around Frasiers back and stood closely beside him. Following her lead Frasier draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as sthey walked down the beach draped together. Frasier couldn't help enjoying closeness as they walked a few hundered feet, before Roz stopped and turned towards Vince, "get enough shots there?" 

"Yup, sure did, can I go now, there's a waitress I'm interested in getting to know better over at the motel I'm staying at." Vince was in a hurry. 

"Hmm..... how about a quick photo or two of us in swimsuits, applying suntan and entering the water or something before you go." Roz suggested, "sound ok to you Fras?" 

"Sure, but do we actually have to get in the water?" Frasiers tone suddenly took on a remarkable resemblance to Roz's when she had gotten on the plane. 

"Ahh, someone a little afraid of the water." Roz bantered. 

"Not the water, just the ocean. Haven't you seen all those discovery channel programs about sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, the undertow, not to mention the sanitation concerns of sharing water with hundreds of strange people." Frasier tried to justify his concerns. 

"Guys, could we please hurry this up. The waitress gets off at two" Vince prodded. 

"Right, now come on Frasier, surely you remember what newlyweds act like, just pretend we're Niles and Daphne if that helps" Roz kept teasing as Frasier blushed. 

"Oh alright, fine!" He exclaimed taking off his shirt so that he was clad only in modest swim trunks and pulling out the suntan lotion. 

Roz also shed her t-shirt and shorts to display a one-piece very flattering black bathing suit that while modest, was very alluring. 

Vince looked on, keeping one eye on his watch as he kept wishing they could hurry this up, the least they could do after making him switch sides. 

"Alright I'm ready" Roz stated after she had laid down a towel, Frasier smiled up at the camera as he began to tentatively rub the lotion onto her shoulders. 

"Umm not to criticize Dr. Crane, but most surveillance objects aren't grinning at the camera. Just pretend I'm not here." Vince sighed. 

"And for heavens sake Frasier, quit acting like I have leprosy, you're barely touching me and I'm going to get burned." Roz complained. 

"Fine fine, everyone just lay off." Frasier growled as he put more lotion on his hands, and began massaging Roz's shoulders in earnest, still frowning. But after a few moments he calmed down and began concentrating on the task at hand. He forgot all about Vince as he moved her hair to the side and began rubbing the lotion on her neck and then moving down to her arms. 

Roz couldn't help enjoying the feel of Frasier's hands on her back. For being a psychiatrist he certainly had strong hands, she observed to herself, feeling a twinge of regret when all to soon he had finished. 

"Wow, what a display of affection, I could just feel the love." Vince said dryly as he waited for them to change positions. 

"Just chill Vince, this will be over in a few more minutes and you can go romance your little waitress." Roz rolled her eyes, "Just remember who the boss is and quit complaining." 

Frasier lay on his stomach as Roz began steadily rubbing in the lotion on his entire back. He could feel the tension almost melting away as the knotted muscles in his neck and shoulders began to relax as her fingers loosened the muscles. By the time she reached his lower back he was so relaxed he was almost asleep, and mechanically rolled over when she told him to. He almost jumped when her hands started spreading lotion on his chest and stomach. "Roz, umm I can reach here." He almost squeaked. 

"Just relax Frasier and look like you're enjoying it for the camera, remember we're supposed to be honeymooners, we're going to have to look a little romantic, maybe even kiss." Roz teased him as she stopped to get more lotion. She marveled as she began massaging the planes and muscles in his chest. She had never really thought that such a well built body was lurking beneath all those stuffy suits he usually wore. 

_"Relax she say's"_ Frasier agonized to himself, _"I can barely think straight. I never realized how soft her hands were before."_ He involuntarily groaned as she put a little extra pressure on his ribcage. He closed his eyes savoring the sensations, suddenly startled as he felt her hands move back up his neck and to the side of his face. He just started opening his eyes to see what was going on when he felt her lips on his as she leaned over him. Completely forgetting about Vince, Frasier found himself responding tentatively at first and then almost eagerly as he reached up and pulled Roz closer to him as their kiss deepened so that she was practically laying on top of him. They pulled away breathless moments later, each trying to hide their surprise at the intensity of the kiss they had just shared. 

"Well guys, that's great. Just call me on the cellphone when you want me to come take pictures again." Vince said as he hurriedly started packing up his equipment, breaking the stare between Roz and Frasier. 

"Sure Vince," Roz found her voice as she rolled off Frasier and sat beside him on the towel, both valiantly trying to regain control of their senses.   
  



	14. 14

frasier _This would be where the PG rating starts kicking in :)_

Chapter 14

"I think I'll go try the water now" Roz finally said when she could think coherently again and rose to walk towards the ocean. "Coming?" She called back to Frasier. 

"Ummmm.... yeah I'll be there in a minute." Frasier agreed, torn between his fears of the ocean and the desire to be with Roz again. Finally he threw his caution to the wind and started wading into the ocean, stopping when he got knee-deep, alarmed at how far Roz was out, he wasn't sure if she was touching the bottom or not but the water was at her shoulders. 

"Come on out further," she encouraged as he gulped and began taking more steps, trying desperately to block the horrid images he had seen on TV of people stung by jellyfish or eels, and bitten by sharks. "_The water certainly looked harmless enough_," he thought as he watched it closely. Looking up at Roz occasionally for encouragement he managed to wade out until the water was almost up to his chest and then stopped. "I don't suppose you'd like to come back this ways a little would you?" He suggested, hoping she would say yes so he wouldn't have to go further. 

A laughing Roz swam back over to him. Touching the bottom easily the water was a few inches below her shoulders. "You're kidding about this being afraid stuff aren't you Frasier?" You've been to the ocean several times, I remember you talking about it." Roz looked up at him in surprise. 

"Well I've been to the ocean before, but I usually stay on the beach, or go out in a boat. And once in awhile stroll through the water, but never over my ankles really." Frasier admitted sheepishly. 

"So this is the farthest you've ever come out into the water on foot." Roz seemed amazed. 

"Well since I became an adult, Dad used to drag both Niles and I out here as children to where the water was over our heads. He thought it was fun to dunk us in the water without warning, Niles managed to get over his, but I'm still a bit skittish about going under. That salt water really burns your eyes." Frasier finished his explanation to an amused Roz when he felt something brush against his leg causing him to immediately jump up and cling to her. Fortunately the water made him almost weightless or they would have both gone under. 

"Umm Frasier, what are you doing?" Roz mumbled as best she could with him practically smothering her. 

"I felt something brush against my leg, it could have been a shark." Frasier started almost hyperventilating. Roz wanted to tease him but she could hear his heart pounding with real alarm beneath her ear. 

"And do you know what else you're doing, look at you Frasier" Roz tried taking the reality approach to shock Frasier into letting go. "If it was a shark do you think having your feet 6 inches off the bottom is really going to help?" 

"What, I see nothing wrong with this." Frasier tried to sound genuine though after taking stock of the way he was clinging to Roz, having his arms wrapped around her neck and her having reflexively grabbed beneath his knees when he jumped she was carrying him almost like she carried Alice sometimes. He had to admit though that although embarrassing it was nice to be that close. 

"Frasier you do realize you're making a scene don't you." Roz said again, his weight starting to make her arms tired. "Guess there's no easy way to do this," she said as she let go of his legs expecting him to fall into the water. His grasp around her neck though was stronger than she had thought so he just quickly wrapped his legs around her waist, still clinging as if for dear life. 

"But Roz, what if it was an eel or something and it's waiting for me to put my feet down?" He gasped. 

_"I do like being this close to him,"_ Roz pondered for a second, _"but this has just got to stop"_ She figured out what she was going to do, hoping it wouldn't traumatize Frasier even more. 

"Frasier, it's just water, there are fish here. It was probably just some small fish that grazed your ankle," She started saying soothingly as she caressed his back lightly, causing him to start to relax. 

"You really think so? But even if it was a small fish there might be a bigger meaner fish chasing it for lunch." 

"Yes, and I hope you won't be to upset but I'm ending this little display now." Roz said as she quickly took a deep breath and picked up her legs, effectively dunking them both under the water. When they came up moments later Frasier was sputtering and Roz was laughing at the spectacle as his wet hair was sticking out in different directions. Forgetting his fear of the ocean creatures Frasier became focused on revenge as he grabbed Roz and picked her up then dropped her under the water. Laughing when she came up sputtering in surprise. "Oh you'll pay for that!" she teased as she began splashing him, suddenly the fear was gone and all that was left were two friends having fun in the water. The finally declared a truce when they could barely breathe any longer due to the exertion, the laugher, and the holding of their breaths during frequent dunkings, it seemed natural as they held hands and walked to shore together, collapsing in the sand still laughing. 

"You're right Roz, that wasn't as bad as I thought, thank you. Of course now I expect you to try that plane ride back without alcohol" he teased.. 

Roz merely stuck her tongue out at him as they picked up their towels to go back to the beachhouse for a light lunch. 

LATER 

"I was thinking about dinner at the Chantarelle Restaurant nearby, it has both French and American food, and a nice romantic atmosphere for Vince to take pictures of." Frasier suggested as the sun began to set. 

"Sounds good, why don't you give him a call. He can bring his waitress friend and take her on a date on Rick's tab." Roz agreed as she went to the bedroom to find the one dress she had brought among the shorts and tee-shirts. 

They arrived at the restaurant nearly an hour later, spotting Vince and some blonde woman they assumed was the waitress, near the corner table they had reserved. They quickly gave their wine order, looked significantly at Vince, and then proceeded to lean forward looking deeply into each others eyes as they held hands across the table. 

"So what do you think of the new program format Kenny is trying to promote?" Frasier asked as he slowly kissed Roz on the hand. 

"Oh, I think it's terrible, our ratings would drop terribly if he put us that early in the morning." Roz replied as she smiled warmly back at him. 

"Not to mention you'd have to get up a lot earlier," Frasier's tone was almost sensual, though Roz could detect the mirth dancing in his light blue eyes, which seemed to be sparkling even a little more than usual that evening. 

"That as well, and I'm not in the best of moods most mornings.." She agreed smiling back with her best seductive look, causing Frasier to inwardly gulp even though he knew that she was doing it for the sake of the camera. 

The waiter returned with their wine and they placed their orders. Frasier then gallantly poured the glasses full and raised his glass in a toast. 

"To staying in our old time slot!" 

Roz nodded as they clinked glasses and completed their toast. They could hear the small clicks of the camera as Vince took pictures. And that was much the way the evening continued as they ate in the romantic atmosphere with a lot of gratuitous hand holding and gazing into each others eyes while they ate the delicately grilled swordfish and talked about mostly meaningless topics while their body language suggested much more. 

They all met in the parking lot after the meal, and were introduced to Vince's new friend Selena, a waitress at the motel where he was staying. 

"Well guys let me know the next time you want me to appear with the camera, but Selena and I are going to go continue our evening elsewhere, right baby." Vince said oozing charm as he leaned over to kiss his new girlfriend. 

"Sounds good, thanks Vince." Roz said as she began to dismiss him. Surprised when he turned back around. I almost forgot, I was on the balcony the other night cause I was supposed to get some pictures of you at the house, can we get that out of the way tonight, and then I'll only have to get you one more time before you go. I've got a rental car, I'll even give you a ride so you don't have to pay cab fare." 

"How very generous of you," Roz smiled, still pleased at how easily she had managed to get him to cooperate with them. Though this would definitely be something that they didn't need to share with her attorney, they knew they were stretching Laura's ethical boundaries as it was without disclosing how they had the P.I. from the other side in their hip pockets. 

_AT THE BEACHHOUSE_

"You know I kinda like this surveillance thing a lot better when the subjects cooperate like this," Vince joked as they stood in the living room. 

"Perhaps you should consider a career as a photographer then for magazines or something," Frasier laughed as they started to discuss scenarios. 

"OK, well I have enough pictures of last night, minus the ones of you on the couch of course Doc, so I'll just stand out here on the balcony and you two can just come in the front door, make out a few minutes and do whatever and then I'll take off. Sound good?" Vince said as he put his arm around his girlfriend, "I promise it'll only take a minute babe." 

Neither Frasier or Roz were going to admit to the flip-flop their stomachs did at the idea of getting to kiss again so they seemed rather nonchalant as they both shrugged at his suggestion. 

"Cool, OK, well give me about 5 minutes to get set up on the balcony and then come in the front door and Action." Vince said as he headed out to the balcony, setting up a tripod while Roz and Frasier went back out onto the front doorstep. "And don't mess it up, I don't want to have to stick around doing retakes all night." 

"Look who's turned into Mr. Hollywood." Roz joked as they reached the doorstep, "though I shouldn''t complain, at least he's cooperating with us." 

"Right. We've got about 4 minutes to figure out what to do here, any plans here or are we just going to wing it?" Frasier asked trying to control the nervousness he was suddenly feeling. 

"I would say wing it, but I'm not to sure you know how to do that." Roz kidded him. "Look I figure it can be pretty easy, he just needs a little footage of us doing something besides playing cards or watching TV, how hard can it be?" 

"So we just walk in the front door, kiss a couple times and then go into the bedroom right?" 

"Well we could, but I kinda think we should make it a little more, that is if you don't mind." 

"A little more?" Frasier gulped as his pulse started racing. 

"Yeah, I was thinking of a scene from a movie I was watching a while back. I figured we could go in the front door. As soon as it closes we start all the kissing stuff, and then some very minor clothing removal as we travel from the door to the bedroom." Roz made it sound extremely simple. 

"Minor clothing removal?" Frasier was obviously cautious and suddenly seemed near hyperventilating. 

"Yeah, you know, like tie, jacket that kind of stuff." Roz rolled her eyes. 

"Yes I figured that for me, but what about you, you're not exactly covered with accessories there," Frasier acknowledged as he viewed the simple yet elegant dress she was wearing. 

"Simple, you just remove the dress..... Quit gaping Frasier, you'll catch flies. I have a slip underneath, and you've seen me in dresses more revealing than this slip will be. Is that OK with you?" Roz studied his face for agreement almost laughing at how similar the look was to the one she had seen earlier in the day during his little ocean trauma. 

"Sure, I can do that I guess, is there a catch or a zipper?" He said after a moment, trying to sound cool and collected though he thought they were going just a little above and beyond what they should have to do. Besides it was getting harder and harder for him to hide the feelings that this marriage to Roz were bringing up. He found himself wishing that it was authentic more and more often, yet he kept the feelings suppressed, realizing that Roz was thinking only of getting Alice back right now, and he kept having that small doubt in the back of his mind that told him she could never fall for a guy like him. He wasn't flashy enough, or exciting enough for her.. 

_Meanwhile_

_"I can't believe I'm suggesting this to Frasier, I wonder if he can see through me."_ Roz worried. She just couldn't bring herself to admit to him how increasingly attracted she was finding herself to him. She had occasionally wondered through the years what it would be like to hook up with Frasier. And even though this whole marriage thing had started out as a pretense she found that it was becoming increasingly more comfortable than she would have thought. And now she was coming up with these schemes to get him closer, if even for a few moments. She was still embarrassed after kissing him so abruptly on the beach and now here she was getting him to participate in this scene, which truth be told could probably be done with a little less complicity. She knew she was lucky to have Vince as the P.I. He was always a dramatist and only aided in her schemes. How she wished that she didn't have to resort to such planning just to get a kiss, but she was almost positive that Frasier could never see her as a serious interest, he liked women who had more breeding and more finesse, and a taste for the culture he enjoyed. So she would take what she could get, she figured as she stared off into space. 

"Hey you guys, like anytime now." Selena's whiny voice jarred them both from their thoughts. 

"OK, ready to go." Frasier said solemnly as they approached the door. 

"Yeah, it won't take but a few minutes" Roz said lightly, so just relax and take it easy she assured him, trying to loosen him up as they opened the door and entered the beachhouse. 

After taking 5 steps in so that they were in clear view of the balcony they went into action. Roz sat her purse on the table and turned to face Frasier who gulped slightly as he pulled her to him and they began a repeat of the kiss at the beach. Frasier almost jumped as he felt Roz reached her arms up under his jacket and slowly slide it off. He leaned back for a moment gazing at her intently as she unfastened his tie and then gasped again as she used it, still around his neck to pull him in for another kiss. He was managing to keep himself fairly controlled as he let her lead the way since this was her plan to start with, that was until he felt her fingers on the button of his shirt and then her hands back on his chest. His control began to slide as he hungrily deepened the kiss, invading her mouth with his tongue which caused her to gasp in surprise before eagerly accepting it and then probing with her own. As their kiss continued Frasier remembered the dress and easily found the zipper and slid the dress off her shoulders. He was too involved in the kiss to even take stock of what she was wearing, just luxuriating in the feel of her body so close to his. They continued towards the bedroom, still kissing passionately as they made it through the door and without even thinking collapsed on the bed.   


_Authors Note: I would like to thank the beta readers who participated in the voting process for A, B or C.... if you don't know what this means don't worry, but for those who do, yep I went with A -- but at least you got to see the alternates, so don't shoot me :)_   



	15. 15

frasier Chapter 15 

They kissed passionately for a moment, Frasier pulling away reluctantly just as Roz's fingers found his belt buckle. 

"Wait, we can't...." he was gasping for air, already hating himself for stopping what they were obviously getting ready to do. 

"You're right, what was I thinking" Roz hastily agreed, rolling off of him as she sat up gasping for air, starting to feel embarrassed. 

"We uhh... just got caught up in the moment right?" Frasier said uncertainly as he stood up, starting to rebutton his shirt. _"This was supposed to be a charade and here I am jamming my tongue down her throat. She's going to think I'm taking advantage of her if I don't control myself."_

"Right, yeah, just got carried away." Roz agreed as she reached for a nearby robe, feeling slightly embarrassed at her lack of clothing. _"I got so carried away I forgot that this whole marriage thing is for Alice. He's just trying to do a friend a favor and I jump him like a cheap date. I'd better control myself or I'll ruin our friendship."_

"So uhh see you in the morning right?" An obviously flustered Frasier said while excusing himself and exiting quickly from the room. 

"Yeah, night." Roz called after him, relieved when the door shut and she could collapse back onto the bed. "What the hell was that all about?" She groaned as she looked at the ceiling trying to figure out what had just been going on, and who had been the one out of control. 

_Meanwhile_

"I can't believe I did that!" Frasier continued berating himself as he absentmindedly picked Roz's dress off the floor and laid it over a chair with his jacket. _ "I just hope she doesn't get upset and think I'm trying to use her vulnerability right now to my advantage. But she did reciprocate,"_ a small voice whispered into the back of his mind causing him even more confusion. _"Probably just a natural reaction plus withdrawal from her stable of studs in Seattle"_ he sighed to himself as he laid on the couch and also began staring at the ceiling, analyzing and rationalizing the previous events. 

_MORNING_

Roz woke up early, despite a largely sleepless night and crept out into the living room. Frasier was still sound asleep on the couch so she tiptoed past him to walk on the beach in the early morning light. She knew that it was going to be awkward later and she needed to clear her head before their inevitable talk. She almost contemplated leaving a note, but decided against it as she slipped out the front door. 

Frasier woke soon after and realized quickly that Roz was gone. "Oh no, she must hate me." He groaned as he pulled on a t-shirt and sandals and went out on the beach to search for her. He was determined to set their friendship right before things got any more complicated. 

When he saw her he had to stop a moment, she was sitting underneath a palm tree in the early morning sunrise and her beauty was breathtaking. It wasn't until she turned her head to acknowledge his presence that he continued forward and sat down awkwardly beside her. 

"Good morning" he finally said softly. "How'd you sleep?" 

"Morning, ok I guess." Roz's response was equally as awkward as both their minds were whirling with memories of what had happened, and more importantly what had almost happened. 

"Look Roz, I'm sorry about last night." Frasier began, unable to stand the silence that was building up between them. 

"I'm not." Roz took a deep breath and blurted it out before she changed her mind. 

In a heartbeat Frasier's head snapped up and his confused expression was met by her dark brown eyes. 

"What... what did you say?" He almost stammered wondering if he could have heard her correctly. 

"Look aside from getting a little carried away at the end it went fine." Roz tried to rationalize, though suddenly she felt as if she had gone to far as she began to talk even more rapidly trying to explain what she meant. "I mean you know, Vince got some great footage and well I don't know about you but I thought our little ploy was rather enjoyable. I mean I've had much worse experiences, and well you're a really a great.... well what I mean is that kissing you was far from unpleasant, and well that I know the reasons might have been wrong but... well.... oh I give up I'm just babbling." The flustered Roz hid her head in her hands. _"Shoot I thought I'd get myself out of this and I just dug myself deeper."_

"I don't know what to say." Frasier was silent for a few moments as he digested this new information. "I'm flattered, and I know what you meant. I guess we shouldn't be upset just because we didn't repulse each other romantically or physically." He laughed as he put his arm around her comfortably. "And yes, you're right, it was enjoyable.... very enjoyable." He grinned as he pulled Roz's head to his shoulder. 

Roz was elated that he had felt the same as she had and couldn't resist a wide grin when she looked up at him. "Well you know we are technically married." She let the sentence hang, not going any further though her meaning was clear. 

Frasier emitted a deep sigh, obviously lost in thought for a few moments before responding. "Roz, I think it's time we had that serious talk we've both been avoiding." 

"Yeah, what happens after all this is over?" Roz agreed almost quietly, the tone suddenly sober again. 

"Our options are pretty limited you know, divorce or stay together." Frasier kind of mumbled the last option. 

"Yeah, I guess our staying together wouldn't make much sense considering the reason we got married in the first place." Roz's statement almost sounded like a question. 

"But a divorce doesn't seem right either." Frasier commented. "Perhaps we could get an annulment?" 

"Yeah, that might work, Donny could probably help us out if Laura cannot." 

"So I guess we're in agreement that we're breaking it off after the trial." Frasier said solemnly. _ "I wish I knew how she would feel us staying together. It's going to be hard to go back to just friends after this closeness. Oh well perhaps we can date after this is all over."_

"Yeah, I just hope it doesn't affect Alice too much." Was all Roz could say. _"I think I'm falling in love with him, but I can't tell him that now, it's to soon. Maybe after the trial things will have changed and we'll want the same thing."_

"Well considering we're going to go back to being friends I think it would make things more awkward if we sleep together, no matter how much we may want to." Frasier reasoned, inwardly groaning even though he knew he was right. 

"Yeah, you're right Fras, good thing one of us is thinking clearly about all this." Roz agreed, though inwardly disappointed that their chemistry would go unresolved. 

"But you know, I don't think an occasional kiss or hug would hurt anything." Frasier said brightly, after racking his mind a few moments trying to rationalize a way that they wouldn't have to stop completely. 

"True, plus that would help keep us reminded that we're supposed to be a couple, and we should act that way around people right? Look at Niles and Daphne." Roz added, helping him in the rationalization process. 

"Well I think making out in the corner of Cafe Nervosa is a bit much, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of occasions." Frasier smiled as he continued to hold Roz against him as they watched the sunrise. 

They grinned happily at each other, both thinking to themselves that they had at least found a good reason, or so they thought, to still be able to have just a little fun while keeping a no strings marriage.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	16. 16

frasier _Chapter 16_

"Well there you two are. I hope you don't mind but Selena and I want to go sailing so I thought I could that last photo session out of the way and then we're all free until the flight back." Vince's approach made them jump apart in surprise. 

"It's kind of early isn't it? The sun has barely come up." Frasier observed. 

"Yeah yeah, so we get some nice handholding on the beach at dawn stuff." Vince was obviously in a hurry to get with his girlfriend. "So how did last night go? You both should certainly consider professional acting careers if that was all fake. Selena thought you two were getting ready to hit the floor and go all the way." Vince was less than subtle. 

Roz and Frasier both blushed but chose not to pursue the subject. 

"You know Vince, maybe you should consider a career in film." Roz joked as she changed the subject and stood up to brush the sand off her tanned legs. 

"You're definitely getting bossy these days." Frasier agreed as he stood up and pulled Roz close to him and they began walking down the beach while Vince snapped pictures. This time there was no mistaking the sparks flying between the couple as they strolled hand in hand on the shoreline, neither making an attempt to hide the enjoyment of being so close. 

"OK, how about a nice silhouette kiss and then we'll call it quits." Vince called as they reached a spot right in front of the fiery red morning sun. 

"The trials we must endure huh?" Frasier laughed softly under his breath as they stood in silhouette with their faces only inches apart. 

"Yeah, talk about a hard task." Roz grinned in anticipation as their faces neared for another kiss. 

They once again kissed, enjoying the now familiar feelings and sensations they were becoming accustomed to. It began slowly and softly, once again increasing in intensity until Vince interrupted. "OK, guys, that'll do it, see you at the airport in the morning." He said as he hurriedly stuffed his camera in the bag and waved goodbye to the couple, still standing together in the early daylight. 

"You know I could really get used to this." Roz said huskily as she looked up into Frasier's blue eyes, which she realized looked darker than usual, making her wonder what he was thinking. 

"Same here, I'm beginning to see even more clearly how you enchant so many men." Frasier said softly as he leaned in close again, just barely brushing her lips softly with his own before pulling back an inch so that their noses were barely touching as they gazed deeply into each others eyes. 

"We did say that an occasional kiss would be ok right?" Roz reminded him as she pulled herself back up, effortlessly meeting his lips again for another kiss, this time there was no pretense, just two people kissing because they wanted to, and because they loved each other, even though neither could admit it even to themselves yet. 

The day passed by quickly as they did some shopping for souveniers and packed, getting ready for their return flight home. In no time at all they were boarding the plane as Vince once again snapped a few pictures of them holding hands and boarding the plane before he took his seat in the coach section as they settled in first class. 

"I don't suppose you're going to let me drink are you?" Roz started getting queasy as the plane started taxiing down the runway. 

"Now Roz, we discussed this. You don't need alcohol, remember how you helped me get over being scared of the ocean." 

"Fine, if you want to dunk me underwater then do it, otherwise I'm going for the vodka." Roz's breathing started to sound suspiciously like she was about to start hyperventilating as she stared out the window at the concrete they were fast getting ready to leave.". 

"Well I can't dunk you under water, but I can certainly distract you," Frasier mumbled then without warning reached over take her chin and gently pull her away from focusing on the runway, to face him as he abruptly kissed her, she froze for a minute out of shock and then eagerly reciprocated. She didn't even notice as the plane left the ground and began soaring through the sky. 

When they finally broke apart they were embarrassed to hear a lot of clapping from the surrounding passengers. Apparently they had not been very discreet, as the stewardess offered them champagne, saying she had not realized they were newlyweds until seeing the way they acted. They blushed furiously, but couldn't help but smile at the moment they had just shared. Every time Roz started to get nervous it was not hard at all for Frasier to distract her, by the time they were beginning their descent Roz had fallen asleep with her head nestled comfortably on his shoulder. 

_AT AIRPORT_

"Mommy Mommy..." Alice yelled as she left Niles and Daphne to rush towards them as soon as they stepped off the plane. 

Roz was overjoyed to see her daughter again and their reunion was truly a touching sight to all involved. It didn't take long to collect the luggage and begin the ride home. Alice chatting merrily all the way about the fun she had over the weekend, going to the petting zoo, and the park. 

"Well here we are!" Niles announced as they entered the elevator at Elliot Bay Towers, I'm sure you two are tired after your trip." Daphne spoke quickly. Suddenly Frasier got the distinct impression something was up but did not have time to figure it out as they opened the front door to be greated by a chorus of "SURPRISE". The shock on their faces was evident at the sight of all their family and friends gathered near a table of gifts. 

"This is certainly a surprise, what's the occasion?" Roz finally found her voice. 

"What do you think, it's a wedding shower. Surprised?" Martin laughed as he explained what was going on. "And here's another surprise." Roz turned white as he stepped aside to reveal her mother standing there with a look on her face that though outwardly cheerful Roz knew did not bode well for her later. 

"Mom." She said cheerfully as she went to hug her, keeping up appearances sake since it was obvious a lot of trouble had been taken to get her there. 

Soon the party was in full swing, it was an odd assortment as the Seattle Elite hobnobbed with some of the lesser citizens as Roz's and Frasier's friends mingled, surprisingly well. The opening of the gifts was fun, though slightly embarrassing when Roz opened some surprisingly revealing lingerie from one of her friends in front of everyone. She blushed almost as hard as Frasier did when he opened a bag containing a can of whipped cream, from the former head of the wine tasting society no less. 

The party was over it seemed in no time, and the guests had departed from the class mixing party that had served beer and pretzels right alongside with wine and caviar. 

"It was fun guys, we're going to run though." Niles and Daphne began to excuse themselves. 

"Trying to get out of here before we can get you for setting us up, aren't you?" Frasier teased back, unware of Roz nervously trying to avoid her Mother's stare as they said their goodbyes. 

"Well I'm beat, we can clean up this mess tomorrow right kids?" Martin, obviously a little worn down began heading to his room, also sensing some tension in the room. He wasn't sure what the cause was but he certainly wasn't going to stick around and get caught in it. 

"So do you need a ride to a motel or...." Roz began to question her Mother as to where she was staying. 

"No thank you I'll call a cab when I'm ready to go." Joanna Doyle's tone was icy. 

"Well I'll go check on Alice and...." Frasier started edging out of the picture. 

"No, you're staying right here." She demanded in a no nonsense tone that she had perfected as an attorney general. Frasier audibly gulped, he wasn't quite sure what she was upset about but it didn't look good. 

"Mom, don't get upset, I meant to tell you...." Roz began explaining. 

"I can't believe I find out about my daughters wedding a WEEK after it happens, and by her in-laws no less when they're inviting me to a wedding shower for her." 

"Roz, you didn't tell your mother about marriage?" Frasier was shocked. 

"Oh hush Frasier, I don't need both of you fussing at me." Roz got defensive. 

"You also neglected to mention you were even dating him. When did you start shutting me out of your life?" Joanna started sniffling. 

"Mom, you don't understand...." Roz was becoming upset, seeing her Mother cry was even worse than having her yell. 

"Ladies, calm down." Frasier said in his most soothing tone as he stood back up and stepped over to the still irate, yet tearful Joanna. 

"Joanna, it's not as bad as it sounds. Roz didn't tell you we were dating because we weren't. It happened very suddenly, in a matter of hours to be honest. One minute we were having dinner together and the next we were eloping. My family didn't know either, and like you Niles was a bit upset at not being told beforehand. Then after the wedding, we got so caught up in packing and moving and just being newlyweds that she probably never got the chance to call you, I kept her quite busy." Frasier blushed slightly at the implications of the last statement. 

"So you weren't trying to shut me out of your life?" Joanna cleared her throat as she reached for a tissue. 

"Oh no Mom, I would never do that. I love you." Roz said emotionally as she reached out to hug her mother. She mouthed a thank you to Frasier during the hug. Frasier couldn't help but feel a surge of pride that he had turned what was building into a painful and probably loud mother daughter argument into this tearful moment of bonding. 

Finally they pulled away from each other, both now drying their eyes and starting to laugh. 

"I'm sorry if I overreacted." 

"No Mom, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." The two women began apologizing. 

"Welcome to the family Frasier, I must say this is quite ironic." Joanna began to laugh. 

"Ironic?" Frasier questioned 

"Yes, you two tried to set Martin and I up and here you are the ones that get married." She laughed. 

"I had almost forgotten about that" Roz started laughing at the memory. 

"I should be going, but honey before I go." Joanna's voice became serious again. "I want you to know I'm proud of you, and I'm happy that you finally found a man who really knows you and loves you for who you are. And Frasier, I know that with you I don't need to worry about whether she's being treated right. I used to worry about what kind of man she would settle down with, and I'm pleased with her choice." 

"Oh Mom" Roz's voice started to get shaky again. 

"Thank you Joanna," Frasier wasn't quite sure what else he should say. 

"Nonsense, you must call me Mom now." Joanna reached out to give him a large hug, squeezing tightly, 

"OK, Joanna... uhhhhh Mom, would you like to stay here tonight, there's plenty of room." Frasier offered. 

"Oh no thank you, I've got an early flight out due to a speaking engagement in the morning and should get back to the motel. You two come visit me soon though." Joanna grinned widely as she hugged them both one more time and then turned to leave. 

"Whew, good save Frasier." Roz exhaled as soon as the door had closed. 

"Yes, well if she's anything like you when you get angry I wanted to put that fire out as fast as I could." Frasier laughed as Roz threw a pillow at him. 

"I'm just glad she reacted that way, I thought she might be upset at me for marrying a radio shrink like you." Roz chuckled and then ducked as the pillow was launched back in her direction. 

"Well it's been a long day, and we have to work again tomorrow." Frasier's tone was taking on a note of uncertainty as they began walking towards the bedroom. This would be the first time they slept together in the same bed after the events that had transpired over the weekend, and there was a new tension in the air now. 


	17. 17

frasier Chapter 17 

"I guess we'll have to go through the gifts and do that thank you card thing tomorrow huh?" Roz said trying to keep the conversation going as they approached the bed after changing into their pajama's. 

"That's a good idea, it's proper etiquette after all to get thank you cards out promptly." Frasier agreed as he slid into his side of the bed. 

"I'm still surprised Mom was so happy. I mean the last time she was here she did ask a lot of questions about you. I couldn't figure out why but now I'm beginning to wonder." Roz was speculative as she slid into her side of the bed. 

"Well it's only natural for people to wonder, considering how much time we spend together.." Frasier fluffed his pillow and laid back. "Goodnight Roz." 

"Goodnight Frasier." Roz said as she turned off the lights. They stared at the ceiling quietly thinking as they drifted off to sleep.. 

_MORNING_

Alice was having a great time playing with the wrappings and building things with the empty boxes near the piano, as Frasier and Roz went through the gifts, with a large stack of thank you cards in front of them. 

"OK, next we have an autographed copy of "Gil's guide to gourmet dining". Frasier read the card on the next gift. 

"How useful," Roz rolled her eyes as she began to write. 

"And here is a box from Daphne," Frasier pulled off the lid, gulping at what he saw inside. 

"Well what is it?" Roz got tired of waiting and peered over into the box, laughing when she saw the "Mantastic" emblem on top of the box. 

"Oh come on, how bad can it be, open the box." She prodded as Frasier gingerly pulled off the lid and started surveying the contents, reading the containers. "Body paint? Massage oil? Scented Lotion? Oh that must have been a gag, here's some clothing accessories in the bottom, Frasier observed as he found an assortment of silk scarves, " Looking up perplexed as Roz doubled over in laughter. 

"I don't think these are for wearing Frasier, gosh I can't believe Daphne did this though." She continued chuckling. 

"I'm not sure I follow." Frasier was thinking. 

"Let me put it this way, remember Ryan from last weeks show...... and what context he talked about scarves in." Roz tried to jog his memory. 

"Oh my" Frasier blushed as the light dawned and he threw the scarves back in the box like they were on fire, causing Roz to laugh uncontrollably. 

"I swear Frasier, you're not really that much of a prude are you?" Roz giggled. 

"Oh come now Roz, it's not that, it's just lack of exposure. Lilith was always fairly clinical about these things, and well it's not like I've had a lot of girlfriends, even the ones I've had haven't exactly been uhhh...... oh geez I'm not going to sit here and discuss my sex life with you." Frasier hurriedly moved on to the next package blushing furiously. 

"You're too funny you know. Who knows one day maybe you'll get to walk on the wild side." Roz laughed some more, standing when the doorbell rang and going to answer it. 

"Hi, flowers for Roz Crane." A seemingly innocent delivery man held a bouquet. 

"I wonder who those could be from?" Roz smiled happily. 

"You are Roz Crane? Could you sign here please?" The delivery man held forth a clipboard. 

"Yes that's me and I'll be happy to sign for them Roz said as she handed him a tip and then signed the clipboard." 

"Consider yourself served." The man said briskly as he handed her an envelope and left her standing stunned at the doorstep. 

"Hey, you could at least have returned the tip." She yelled after him before slamming the door. 


	18. 18

frasier Chapter 18 

"What is it?" Frasier said, the tone serious again as he stood by her while she opened the envelope. "It's the papers, from Rick, suing for full custody of Alice." Roz could barely speak as her face crumbled and the tears started to threaten. 

"Oh honey, I'm sorry, ssshhh..." Frasier took her in his arms consolingly, letting her break down as reality hit her. 

"Surely the gifts weren't that awful?" Niles said as he and Daphne appeared at the still open door. One glance from Frasier was enough to let him know this was serious, and not a time for jokes. 

"Roz, what is it?" Daphne said, concerned for her friend. Roz wordlessly handed them the letter, not budging from the comfort of Frasier's embrace. 

Niles and Daphne read wordlessly for a minute until they realized what the paper was. "Oh Roz no!" Daphne's eyes started to mist as she wrapped her arms around Roz as well making for a sandwich hug with Roz squeezed tightly between them. 

"I'm not really sure what to say, this was so unexpected, I've been talking to Rick almost daily and he never even hinted.... How dare he?" Niles became angry, much to everyone's surprise. "No wonder he's been pumping me for information about you two." 

"He's been what?" Roz's head jerked up. "What have you told him?" 

"Not much." Niles was suddenly nervous at the 3 pairs of tearful eyes focused on him. 

"That's OK Niles, he fooled us all, no one expected this." Frasier spoke up, feeling a stab of guilt at lying to his brother since in truth he and Roz had been expecting it, even if hoping it wouldn't happen. 

"So what are you going to do?" Daphne turned back to Roz. 

"What can I do, I'm going to fight this. He's not taking my little girl away from me." Roz said emotionally. 

"And we'll all be standing behind you." Frasier agreed. 

"We sure will, Rick won't know what hit him and that little bimbo wife of his." Daphne started getting angry. 

"I know we haven't exactly been close Roz, but count me in to." Niles shook his head in agreement. 

"Count you in on what?" Martin spoke up as he to entered the room. 

"Keeping that slimy sod Rick from ripping Alice out of her mother's arms?" Daphne announced loudly. 

"Well that's one way to put it." Frasiers tone was dry, as Niles handed the papers to Martin. 

"Thanks guys, you're all the greatest." Roz sniffled as she took the handkerchief that Frasier offered her. 

"Hey, us Cranes may have our differences but we stick together. I'll help as much as I can also." Martin said, looking sadly at the little girl playing in the distance, who was completely oblivious to the havoc that was about to hit. 

Frasier released Roz to the embrace and care of Daphne and the rest of the family as he went to the phone to call Laura and let her know that Rick had made his move. 

The next few days were a blur of activity as Laura prepared herself, and tried to prepare her clients for the upcoming hearing. 

"I can't believe this court mess starts next week" a slightly frazzled Roz moaned while sitting on the sofa with Frasier's arm around her. Seemed they were in that position a lot as he was frequently trying to soothe her nerves. "This isn't like me Frasier, I'm usually able to bounce back from these things but look at me now, I'm a nervous wreck." 

"I don't think so, I think you're doing remarkably well." He disagreed, "I think it's remarkable how you're able to keep an air of normalcy for Alice's sake. She's just as happy as she was last week, and her happpiness is what's important right?" 

"But should I be preparing her for the possibility of her going to live with her father and never see me again?" Roz was worried. 

"No. That's not gong to happen! It can't." Frasier's tone was forceful. 

"You really make me want to believe you." Roz grinned slightly. They sat holding each other and watching Alice play with the lego's on the floor near the piano, jumping when the doorbell rang. Frasier got up to answer the door,. 

"Hello, may I help you?" 

"Yes, Dr. Frasier Crane I presume?" Frasier nodded to the affirmative and the lady continued. "My name is Brenda Skylar and I'm a court appointed social worker assigned to this case to investigate the living environment of Alice Doyle. May I come in?" 

"Oh, uh certainly, we didn't know you were coming." Frasier ushered her into the living room, Roz having heard the exchange had wiped her eyes and tried to look ready for company. 

"Hi Ms. Skylar, I'm the child's mother." Roz said nervously as she extended her hand, trying to keep it from shaking. 

"I know my visit is a surprise, we try to keep them that way. I surprised the Garrets as well. Some people would try to stage a display for me and my job is to see the child in a more normal setting." She smiled reassuringly. "But don't worry, it won't take long, I'm just going to look around and ask a few questions. Would that be Alice?" She questioned looking over in the direction of the piano. 

"Yes, of course, Alice come here honey." Roz called her daughter over, exchanging a nervous glance with Frasier about the social workers presence. 

"Alice, this is Ms. Skylar and she came to visit us." Roz introduced the two. 

"Hi," Alice said shyly as she waved slighly, pulling close to her mother. 

"She's absolutely precious isn't she? I bet you adore her." the visitor said sweetly, putting everyone slightly more at ease. 

"Oh she's my life, I don't know what I would do without her." Roz spoke, the words obviously coming from her heart. 

They all moved to the sofa to sit down, Alice crawling up on her mothers lap as the social worker pulled out a few papers and prepared to ask her questions. She spent almost half an hour running through the standard questions about the living arrangements, Alice's routines, and security, and some general questions about the backgrounds of Roz and Frasier. She then took a tour of the house, smiling at the bright cheerful room set up for Alice. She even looked into the refrigerator and cabinets, seeing what kind of food was available. "The beer on the top shelf is my Father's" Frasier spoke up when he saw her looking at it. "We're sure to keep it on the top shelf though." 

"That's fine, I was just wondering, you didn't seem like the beer type Dr. Crane." She smiled as she closed the refrigerator. And now if I could speak to Alice for a few minutes I'll be through here she said as they sat back down on the sofa. 

"Oh do you want us to leave?" Roz started to stand up. 

"That won't be necessary, the questions are relatively simple, and children this age are often pretty honest unless previously told to lie, or trying to keep themselves from getting in trouble." She said as she turned to face Alice. 

"Alice, can I ask you a few questions." 

Still obviously shy, Alice shook her head yes but still hung onto her Mother. 

"I was just wondering how you liked living here." 

"I like it here, like my room lot." Alice gave a toothy grin. 

"I'll bet you do, it's a very pretty room." She continued asking a string of questions about how Alice liked her daycare, about her friends and her favorite toys and soon the 3 year old was a regular chatterbox. Roz and Frasier just watched her, smiling and occasionally laughing at her antics as she got dramatic describing a story she had heard in daycare. 

"I can tell you're a very happy little girl and you love your Mommy very much." She finally got a word in edgewise through the storytelling. 

"Yeah, I love mommy lots and lots." Alice jumped back up into Roz's lap to give her a big hug. 

"Well how do you feel about your daddy." The question seemed to come out of nowhere, taking Frasier and Roz by surprise as they momentarily tensed wondering what Alice would say. 

"I love my daddy a lot too." Alice kept grinning and moved from Roz's lap to Frasier's giving him a big hug as well. 

Frasier returned the hug, trying not to show that this was a bit of a surprise to him. Roz was also a little shocked, but apparently this all went unnoticed by the social worker as she was writing down what she had observed. 

"Does she not know about her father?" She questioned when she looked up again. 

"She doesn't know him very well but she does know who he is, right Alice? You know about your father?" 

At this question Alice sat up and seemed to concentrate a moment before answering the question. 

"He not here, only seen him one time, seems nice, but not as fun as daddy." She said honestly. 

Frasier blushed once again, he hadn't realized Alice had made the distinction between _father_ and _daddy_. 

"I appreciate your time Dr. and Mrs. Crane, I have everything I need." The social worker rose to go as Frasier escorted her to the door. 

"I think that went well." Frasier commented as soon as the door was closed. 

"Yes, I was a nervous wreck though." Roz admitted while sighing in relief.   
  



	19. 19

frasier Chapter 19 

_Authors Note: I am by no means an expert in the legal field or courtroom procedure. So please forgive any courtroom improprieties and chalk it up to creative license :)_

Before it seemed possible the first day of the hearing had arrived. At one table sat Laura with Roz and Frasier, with Niles, Daphne and Martin seated right behind them for support. And at the other table sat Rick and Heather, an oily looking man they assumed to be Holloway, and Rick's parents as well as Vince were seated in the row behind them. After opening statements it was clear that they were in for quite a battle, especially after Holloway had made the statement that he would prove Roz to be an unfit Mother. Roz wasn't sure how he intended to do so, but she shuddered at just knowing his intentions. 

Judge Louise Bryce was on the bench, Laura had told them that it could be very much in their favor to have a female judge who might be more inclined to lean towards the mother, though she was known as being a no nonsense judge. Looking at the stern faced fifty-ish woman on the bench, Roz did not doubt that statement one bit. 

"Relax Roz, you're as stiff as a board." Frasier whispered softly in her ear as he took and held her hand under the table for support. Roz realized at that moment how incredibly fortunate she was to have Frasier there with her. Though he could be so excitable at times he could remain so calm when needed for support. 

Soon the preliminaries were over and Holloway began his barrage. "Your owner, we intend to show that the mother of the child in question is not stable enough to continue caring for this child. The following witnesses will all show a pattern of instability and irresponsibility in Mrs. Crane and make it clear to the court that the proper verdict would be to allow my clients to attain full custody of the minor in question." 

Roz squeezed Frasier's hand hard under the table, almost making him wince, it was all she could do to keep from leaping up and tearing into the sleezy lawyer oozing charm all over the courtroom. 

"Our first witness is Jerry Landis." Holloway called as a nice looking man in his early 40's approached the bench. The strategy soon became obvious as the whole day was spent as a never-ending string of men that Roz had previously dated came up to testify as to her flightiness and unwillingness to commit to a solid relationship. This was a mere sampling of the men she had been involved with and even Roz had to admit that they were doing a good job of making her look like the town slut. 

Frasier was amazed at how stoic she was being, he could tell though by the tight grasp she held on his hand that this was tearing her up inside. How he longed to leap up in her defense and say that she had not been like that since Alice. Laura did her best to contain the damage as she cross-examined the men, trying to level the playing field instead of making Roz look like the only problem in the relationships. By the time court adjourned everyone was emotionally drained from just watching the beating Roz had just been put through. The ride home was a silent one, and no one was surprised when she took Alice straight to the nursery and then afterwards shut herself in the bedroom. 

"That just wasn't fair." Daphne sniffled as the four sat quietly at the table eating supper, which consisted of chinese takeout since no one had the energy to cook. Frasier had tried to get Roz to come out but she declined. "They made her seem so terrible, what does this have to do with Alice." 

"I can't imagine being maligned like that in a public courtroom." Niles agreed. 

"Gotta watch those lawyers like Holloway, I've seen them by the dozen, they can twist the truth as easily as Daphne twists Niles around her little finger." Martin added. 

"I hope you all don't mind, but I don't have much of an appetite, I've got to go see how Roz is doing." Frasier rose to go. 

"Wait Frasier, you might need this." Daphne quickly grabbed a couple of the cartons of food, a couple pairs of chopsticks and a couple napkins for him to take with him. "She'll be hungry later and so will you." 

Frasier nodded his thanks and said goodnight to everyone as he carried his burden to the door and after quietly knocking entered the room. 

He was not surprised to see Roz curled up with a pillow, quietly crying. The scene was enough to make him want to cry himself at seeing how hurt she was. Setting the food on the dresser he made his way over to her and sat beside her on the bed. As he did so Roz instinctively sat up to curl against him so that he could hold her while she cried. 

_LATER_

They had remained that way forever it seemed, no one talking, just clinging to each other as Roz alternated between crying and sniffling. Frasier could feel the front of his t-shirt getting damp but said nothing as he continued to pass her tissues when needed. Finally she blew her nose, wiped her eyes and straightened up to talk. 

"Thank you Fras, I feel better now. So I guess we should talk about today huh?" Her tone was quiet. 

"They were pretty rough on you weren't they?" Frasier agreed still holding her loosely for comfort. 

"Am I really that terrible? Maybe I should give Alice up...." Roz began. 

"Now you stop that!" Frasier admonished, "You are a good mother, this guy is just trying to divert everyone's attention to your not so virtuous past." 

"You really think so?" Her tone was hopeful. 

"Of course, this was just the first day, we just need to hang in there, show a united front and wait for the tide to change." Frasier assured her. 

"I appreciate it Frasier, but you know as well as I do that this is far from the end of the attack on me, you know the attack is one thing, but it's so embarrassing for the rest of the family, and my coworkers to hear all this about me as well." Roz said mournfully. 

"Oh Roz, you know we all love you. And we understand about mistakes made in the past. But for the last 3 years you've been an excellent mother, you've really changed, it's just going to take a little time to get to where we can get that out for the judge to see." Frasier consoled her, "now we've got a full day of court again tomorrow, so we should get some sleep." 

"Yeah you're right, I'm going to go check the kitchen though, all this crying makes a person hungry." Roz said trying to sound cheerful. 

"In that case" Frasier said as he rose and went to the dresser, bringing the chinese food cartons and utensils back to the bed. 

"Frasier, I thought you said eating in bed was uncivilized" 

"This is an exception," Frasier winked as he opened the containers and handed Roz a pair of chopsticks. 

"Oh sure, torture me by dangling food under my face and then give me these useless sticks." Roz rolled her eyes. 

"You don't know how to use chopsticks? It's not that hard, I'll teach you." Frasier offered. 

Over 15 minutes later both were giggling as Roz, despite all of Frasier's attempts at instruction had managed to get no more than one piece of chicken captured and consumed. "This would be a good idea for a diet." She laughed. "I have never seen anyone have such a hard time learning to use them," Frasier was laughing also. 

"Well they're fine for you but I'm going to go get a fork," Roz rose and opened the bedroom door, only gone a second before returning with a blush on her face. 

"What, no forks?" 

"Apparently Niles and Daphne stayed over and they're sleeping in the living room." Roz clarified as she sat back down on the bed. 

"So, surely you could get to the kitchen without waking them up," Frasier started to get up also to go to the kitchen. 

"If they were asleep yes I could, but I didn't think they would appreciate me invading on their private moment." Roz said the innuendo clear. 

"Oh my, don't those two ever slow down?" Frasier sat back down with the containers trying to figure a way out of the mess. 

"Forget this, I'm not dying of hunger here, I'll just use my hands." Roz sighed deeply as she reached for the containers. 

"Roz you cannot eat chicken lo mein and rice with your fingers, not to mention I want some to and I don't want you digging in it." Frasier sighed, "Here give me those." He took them from her and took out the chopsticks and began to expertly capture the food and eat. 

"I can't believe you're going to sit there and eat while I'm starving." Roz dropped her jaw trying to look horrified, but she was instead surprised as Frasier popped a bite of lo mein into her gaping mouth. "Mmmm... that's good, but..." She began. 

"But nothing, we're tired and hungry and trapped in the room by the lovebirds. So unless you want to undergo another half hour or more of chopstick instruction, open wide." Frasier interrupted her. 

Roz gave him a strange look but cooperated in letting him feed her as they alternated between bites and ate in silence. Roz could not remember ever being fed like that in her adult life, no man had ever been quite that considerate, though this was a unique situation, and for some reason she was finding it to be a turn on. "Last bite, open up." Frasier prompted her as he popped the last few grains of rice into her mouth. "That was good, and very sweet of you, thanks Fras." Roz sat back somewhat embarrassed, yet feeling contented. "You're more than welcome, now let's get some rest and gain some strength for another day of being run through the gauntlet." 

"I want to thank you for today Frasier, I would never have made it through all that without your support." Roz said as she turned to flip the light off. 

"You're more than welcome, I only wish I could do more." Frasier sighed feeling helpless as he automatically took Roz in his arms, instinctively knowing she needed the extra security and comfort tonight. He hated to admit it but she was right, the attack had just begun.   
  



	20. 20

frasier Chapter 20 

The next day went much the same, there was no relief in site as by the time lunch break was called another stream of men had gone through the stand, each and every one testifying that Roz was indecisive and flighty, and that she had often said she didn't want kids to tie her down and ruin her fun. 

"Yes I said all that, but that was before Alice, now that I have her I wouldn't trade her for the world." Roz sighed as Frasier and the rest of the Crane family were eating at a nearby restaurant. 

"Look, we all know that he's just grasping at straws, As soon as I get a chance I intend to show that you've only had a few boyfriends since Alice, and they can testify to your devotion to her." Laura tried to brighten the downcast looks around the table. 

"Have you even found them yet?" Frasier looked up. 

"No I haven't" Laura shook her head, "I would bet their sudden disappearances are not coincidental though, there have been rumors before of Holloway pulling underhanded tricks like paying potential witnesses to go on extended vacations. But I've got a P.I. trying to locate them." 

"I just can't imagine anyone even caring after another day of seeing all these guys. I can't believe them, they've even gone back to my middle school boyfriends." Roz rolled her eyes. 

"The judge is not stupid Roz, she's going to see through this. I thought I detected her rolling her eyes when the witness said he had dated you for half of seventh grade." Laura chuckled reassuringly. 

"You really think so?" Roz was hopeful. 

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't. Now we'd better all be getting back." 

When court reconvened Roz was happy to see no familiar faces from her dating past and hoped that the mudslinging was over. Everyone's jaws dropped as Holloway called his next witness..... Gilbert Chesterton. 

Gil went through the basic information of his address and employment information as they tried to figure out what the plan was now. They weren't left in the dark much longer when the main line of questioning began. 

"So Mr. Chesterton, you have already stated that you work with Ms. Crane, previously Doyle, at KACL, what would you say her reputation is around the station. 

"Well" Gil cleared his throat, "as a producer she's quite talented and respected." 

"But what about her personal reputation?" Holloway prompted. 

"Well she's known as being a bit ummm...." Gil fidgeted "A bit of a maneater." He hung his head slightly. 

"A maneater? Could you clarify please?" Holloway continued to prod Gil, making him most uncomfortable. 

"She's just got a bad reputation when it comes to the men, that's all. But most of the men at the station are losers anyway." Gil tried to support Roz even while having to testify against her. 

"I'm not asking about what kind of men are at the station, let me take a different approach. How many of the men who work at KACL would you say that have been involved with this woman." Holloways tone had taken on a derisive nature as he pointed at Roz. 

"I'm not exactly sure, I would guess, just from water cooler gossip that perhaps about 80% of the men at the station have mentioned dating her." Beads of sweat had begun popping onto Gil's forehead. 

"Another question Mr. Chesterton before I finish, were you surprised at the recent marriage between Frasier Crane and Roz Doyle?" Everyone jumped at that question as it suddenly became apparent that the recent marriage issue was not going to be ignored. 

"Well I personally was a little surprised. I mean I had always figured they were sleeping together, but didn't think they'd actually make it to the alter." Gil said honestly as both Roz's and Frasier's jaws dropped open. 

Before they knew it every co-worker in the station had been called to testify that Roz was pretty much dubbed as the station slut. And to both Roz's and Frasier's surprise they discovered that almost everyone had thought they were sleeping together, only a few people seemed unsurprised that they had gotten married. 

Laura countered as best she could, but damage was definitely being done to their side. Once again they sighed in relief when the station witnesses were finished, now thinking that Holloway was ready to move on, but alas they were wrong. 

"For our next witness we would like to call Niles Crane." Holloway announced, causing Niles head to snap up in surprise. 

Niles nervously approached the stand, praying that he wouldn't damage Roz's case further. Once again they zipped through the preliminary questions before cutting to the heart of the questioning. 

"Over the years that you have known your now sister-in-law, what was your opinion of her?" Holloway said grinning. 

"Objection your honor..." Laura rose, trying to fend off the line of questioning. 

"Your honor, I'm merely trying to show the continuity of this woman's reputation not only with co-workers but with family. Dr. Crane here has known her for a while and certainly could have some pertinent information to this case." Holloway stayed unruffled. 

"Very well, I'll allow it, but try to watch the mudslinging counselor." The judge said sternly as Laura sat back down with a deep sigh. 

"Dr. Crane, once again, what was your opinion of this woman, both when you first knew her and now?" 

"Well at first I thought she was well, to be honest, a nymphomaniac with no morality and sensitivity to those around her." Niles said honestly, wincing as he saw Roz flinch at his words. And he could tell by the looks on Martin and Daphne's faces that he was going to have to answer for this later, but what really threw him was the look on Frasier's face, though Frasier was maintaining outward control the look in his eyes told more. He hadn't seen Frasier look that angry since the time he had found out Niles and Lilith had slept together. 

"But..." He continued, determined to wipe the grin off of Holloway's face. "After some time of getting to know her I started realizing that a very caring and beautiful person was keeping herself hidden in that shell that most of the world sees. She has always been a real friend to my brother, someone he could always count on when the chips were down and I am glad to have her as part of this family." Niles finished with a touch of emotion in his voice. He could tell by the misty eyes of everyone, including Frasier that he had just scored some points for the hometeam. It was obvious by the glare on Holloways face as well. 

"Let's get to the main issue here." Holloway began to needle once again. "And that is the parental aspect. You've seen your sister-in-law with her daughter, do you see any problems with lack of discipline or care?" 

"Objection your honor, the witness is not an expert on parenting..." Laura rose. 

"Wait I would like to answer this question." Niles said with authority, causing everyone to stop and turn to face him. 

"I have not been a parent myself, and according to the world of psychiatry she may be doing a few things that aren't perfect. But I do know that I have never seen that child neglected or unhappy. My wife and I have had the pleasure of babysitting her and I find her to be a well adjusted and intelligent child. I think as a single mother especially that she has done an exceptional job." Roz blushed at Niles praise, she would never have guessed he thought that. 

Holloway was obviously frustrated, from all reports he had heard these two didn't get along at all. 

"One final subject" he sighed, "Were you surprised by your brothers marriage?" 

Niles shifted a moment carefully before answering. "I must admit that I was surprised at first. Not that they had gotten married, Daphne, that's my wife, and I had been speculating as to how long it would take them to get together. But no one expected it to happen quite this suddenly." 

"You didn't find out until after the wedding isn't that correct?" 

"Well yes, they made the announcement the next day." Niles gulped feeling like the ax was about to drop and he wasn't going to be able to get out of the way. 

"I thought you and your brother were close, yet you weren't invited to his wedding?" The lawyers tone was obviously suggestive. 

"No, they eloped." 

"Had they been dating?" Holloway's eyes gleamed as he could tell he was hitting a nerve. 

"Well not to public knowledge, but they spend so much time together who knows." Niles was getting a little nervous having to analyze his brothers marriage but managed to stay outwardly calm. 

"Don't you find it awfully convenient that 2 weeks before a custody battle is to begin that a single mother in a low rent apartment marries a well known and well respected psychiatrist complete with a close knit family. Quite a speedy transaction, and quite beneficial to the case. Nice that she and her boss were such good friends isn't it." The innuendo was obvious but Niles could think of no retort. 

"Objection...." 

"No further questions." Holloway snapped and sat down to allow Laura to cross examine, knowing that no matter how many wonderful things he now said about Roz and the marriage, the suspicion had already been cast. 

Martin and Daphne were subjected to much the same treatment and were also able to get a few good words in about Roz, but Holloway still managed to use some of their testimony to Rick's advantage. 

There was no sigh of relief this time when Daphne left the stand, for now it was apparent that Holloway could have any number of tricks up his sleeve, and they were not disappointed when he stood to call another witness. 

"I would like to call Dr. Frasier Crane to the stand." He said emphatically, grinning with satisfaction at the obvious shock that rippled through the courtroom.   
  
  
  
  



	21. 21

frasier   
Chapter 21 

Frasier slowly rose and stood, looking at Laura in question. 

"Objection your honor a husband cannot be forced to testify against his wife." Laura said before he reached the stand. 

"Dr. Crane will be considered a hostile witness and the questioning is mainly to ascertain pertinent facts to the case which the witness will be able to refuse to answer at any time." Holloway looked practically serpentile as he knew he had easily won the argument. 

"Objection overruled, but watch your step counselor. The witness will take the stand." The Judge ordered and Frasier continued his approach. This had not been something he was prepared for. He met Roz's steady gaze and they continued to try and support each other from across the room. Until Holloway stepped between to break the chain and began his questioning. He was very diplomatic at first, simply asking questions about how long they had known each other, what date they had gotten married, but as Niles had sensed Frasier also could tell that he was simply laying the groundwork for something bigger. 

"Dr. Crane, I appreciate you answering my questions so just let me know if I step out of line, but tell me, when did you first realize you were in love with your best friend." The question came like a shot of lightening and Frasier couldn't contain the deer in the headlight look that crossed his face. 

"I don't have to answer that do I?" He gulped, trying not to sweat. 

"Well no you don't, though one might wonder why, perhaps it's because you don't want to have to admit that you didn't fall in love with her, that this whole sham was simply to try and fool the court...." The nice demeanor of James Holloway was gone and instead there was one of mocking and judgment as he began trying to unravel the marriage. 

"Wait, I'll answer the question." Frasier gulped, "just give me a moment." 

"Oh no, he's going to try and lie, he can't lie on the stand, he's got to much of a conscience, not to mention the only person more transparent when it comes to lying is Niles with his nosebleed." Roz thought to herself, watching as Frasier composed himself and prepared to answer. She was obviously not the only one braced, it seemed half the courtroom was leaning forward in anticipation to hear his response. 

"I can't remember exactly when I fell in love with Roz," Frasier began after clearing his throat and licking his lips, _"Oh god, how can I be forced to admit to Roz that I'm in love with her in front of everyone like this. I hope she doesn't hate me for this,"_   


"Well just a general timeline will be fine." Holloway sneered. 

"I started having more than friendly feelings towards her perhaps 2 years ago. But I kept the stirrings suppressed knowing that she couldn't feel the same. The feelings grew as time went on, but I continued to keep them suppressed, simply enjoying as much closeness as I could by being with her and Alice. That's why it wasn't until recently that these feelings came to the surface and so here we are." Frasier finished, hoping that he wouldn't be pressed further since he had not really lied, but had let certain implications be made, for example that Roz had shared his declaration of love that he had never made. But why go into that now? 

"I see, well what a nice little fairytale." Holloway countered. "You're in love with a woman for over a year and yet don't say anything sooner?" 

"It runs in the family," Frasier said weakly, causing Niles and Daphne to both giggle. 

_"Is he lying or is he telling the truth?"_ Roz's mind was whirring. _"Can it actually be possible that Frasier loves me?"_

"Not to beat a dead horse here, but you do realize I'm not speaking of the love between friends, but the type of love a husband would have for his wife." Holloway pressed, starting to grasp at straws at this unexpected turn. He had been almost positive that this was a sham. 

"Yes I understand what you mean? I'm not stupid." Frasier lashed out angrily. "And yes that's what I meant to say, I'm not quite sure the exact moment things changed, but I'm in love with my wife." He said loudly, causing everyone to sit back gaping, including Roz. 

Suddenly realizing how loudly he had made that statement and that he had finally gotten it out into the open Frasier also gaped for a moment. He had barely begun to admit it to himself and now he had just blurted it out into a full courtroom." 

"I see..." Holloway thought for a moment. "So back to the child in question, how do you feel about Alice." 

Frasier relaxed, this question was much easier. "I adore her, she's a precious little girl." He grinned widely. 

"I see, well now you are her step-father, so are there any plans to adopt?" 

"We haven't exactly discussed that yet," Frasier began getting nervous again, "Perhaps later." 

"You got married and didn't consider it?" Holloway pressed. 

"We didn't have time, we were going to talk about it later, but got interrupted when junior over there wanted his kid back to play house with the perfect little wife." Frasier lashed out again. 

"Control yourself Doctor or you will be found in contempt" the judge admonished. 

"Certainly your honor," Frasier said meekly as he sat back in the chair. 

"No further questions your honor." Holloway wrapped up and turned back to his table, not quite as pleased with the results as he had hoped, but they could still be twisted to his benefit. 

"Considering the time I am going to call for court to adjourn and we will reconvene in the morning at 8:30 a.m. sharp, the judge banged her gavel as Frasier slowly walked back to the table. 

"Roz, I can explain," He began to say, so nervous he didn't know exactly what to say but he had to try something. 

"Wait, is it true?" She interrupted him. 

"Well..." Frasier shifted his weight from one foot to the other as Roz continued to look him in the eyes. Finally realizing there was no way out he did all that he could. "Yes Roz, I'm afraid it is, I'm sorry." He said softly as he averted his eyes. 

"Sorry, for what?" Roz used her finger to use his jaw to bring his head back up so their eyes could meet. 

"I know we were supposed to keep this no strings and now I've just messed things up as always..." Frasier began stumbling, hating the awkwardness of the situation. 

"Stop apologizing Fras, can't you see." Roz said with tears practically shimmering in her eyes. "Look at me Frasier, what do you see?" She repeated again softly. 

"This time he did, and was surprised by the depth of emotion on her face. "Roz are you saying you aren't mad?" He said hopefully. 

"Well yes you silly man, but I'm also saying something else." She whispered as she brought his head closer, both totally oblivious to any observers. "I love you to Frasier Crane," she said so softly that they were the only two who could hear it as their foreheads touched. Frasier was speechless as he to started feeling a bit misty eyed. 

They closed their eyes as their lips met slowly and tenderly, conveying the depth of emotion they were both feeling at this new revelation. That for so long they had been thinking the other could never love them, and yet they had been wrong. 

"Ummm guys any day now." Martin cleared his throat and interrupted bringing the two back to reality. 

"What, oh yes, shall we go?" Frasier and Roz blushed and held hands as they headed out to go back to the apartment. 

After picking up Alice from daycare they all sat down to eat, this time with Roz happily joining in. 

"They were pretty rough on you again today." Daphne observed as Roz was cutting Alice's food for her at the table. 

"Yes I suppose they were" Roz said, almost dreamlike. "I am sorry they were rough on you guys though, well kinda sorry." She grinned as she winked at Frasier. "Oh and Niles, thank you for everything you said on the stand, I knew even with all our barbs we were friends, but I would never have believed you could have said all that." Roz turned to thank her brother-in-law. 

"Oh please Roz, don't remind me," he groaned, as he recalled the feelings of being on the stand like that and having to sort through years of friendly barbs and arguments to actually speak the truth about his opinion of Roz. He wondered momentarily if that's what it had been like for Frasier, "but that couldn't be true, could it?" He began thinking quietly, putting pieces together in his mind. 

"Mommy I finished, can I go to you and daddy's room to jump on the bed." Alice's cherubic face peered up at Roz, with pasta sauce smeared all over it. 

"Sure honey, just be careful and don't break anything ok." Roz laughed as she wiped the sauce off her daughters chin. 

The 5 sat and talked for over an hour about how the case was looking and what the chances would be when Laura finally had a chance to turn the tables. It wasn't until the phone rang that they realized that it was getting late. 

"Roz it's for you," Daphne called, having picked up since she had been closest to it when it rang. Niles and Daphne began preparing to leave as she talked. 

Roz had just hung up the phone when Niles and Daphne started making their exit. "Oh Roz, hang in there, it'll get better." Daphne gave her friend a quick hug before they went. Niles was oddly quiet, not acting like anything was wrong, just quiet. But everyone was to wrapped up in their own little worlds to notice much. 

"Here I'll help with the dishes" Martin stood up and began picking up the plates. 

"Nonsense dad, you're tired and I can tell your hip is sore. Go on to bed, Roz and I can finish up here." Frasier said concerned that the day had been too stressful on his aging father. 

"Thanks son, goodnight." Martin needed no further encouragement as he headed off to his bedroom. 

"I worry about him sometimes, despite that tough exterior." Frasier murmured as he continued looking down the hall. 

"He's just tired, you know that." Roz said softly as she came up to give him a hug. 

"Yeah, I know, but I do have to face it that he's getting older. So who was that on the phone?" Frasier abruptly changed the topic before he became to emotional. 

"It was Rick, he wants to see Alice in the morning before court, he said he's thinking of changing his mind." Roz straightened up and began picking up dishes.. 

"You think he's serious about it?" 

"I don't know, but what can it hurt. I told him we'd have her there at 8:00 am for a short visit. Is that ok with you?" 

"Sure, I guess." Frasier said as he stuck the last dish in the now fixed dishwasher. "I don't think he's going to back out, but if he does, it sure would save us a lot of work. 

"Yeah, would be good to end this before they bring out Jeremy Albright." Roz chuckled. 

"And who would that be?" Frasier arched an eyebrow. 

"My boyfriend from kindergarten, he got upset when I dumped him for Alex Ringstaff. I can just see him on the stand now. "Yes, that mean terrible mother dumped me for another guy just cause he had better crayons to share." 

"I still haven't seen much basis in their strategy, seems like the only thing they can try to do is tear you down, they're steering away for the most part of the topic of you as a parent." 

"At least one good thing came out of today though." Roz said as her tone turned serious. 

"Yeah, us." Frasier said simply as he reached for her. Now that they both realized how the other felt the plague of self doubts and fear of ruining the friendship were gone. They kissed for breathless moments, finally breaking apart for much needed oxygen. 

"Frasier, I hate to repeat myself, but what I said the other day on the beach..." Roz began, "I understand why you said we shouldn't then but..." 

"Oh that doesn't count now," Frasier said huskily and then grinned. "That was different, we were just talking about convenience and hormones, or so I thought, but now... well I don't want to rush you into anything but if our love is real and considering the future...." 

"What do you see in our future?" Roz said, holding her breath as she waited for his response. 

"I would love it if we could stay married for real, but I'm not going to push anything." Frasier said quietly, surprising himself by his blunt honesty in the face of such uncertainty. 

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Roz grinned as she grabbed his head and pulled it towards her, this time the kiss growing more heated as so many walls had now dropped between them. Eyes meeting in unspoken agreement they left the kitchen and began slowly walking to the bedroom, stopping every few steps for another breathless kiss. 

"I can't believe she loves me also, who would have thought this marriage would have worked?" The wheels were racing in Frasier's mind as they stumbled towards the bedroom. 

"He didn't even finish cleaning up, if Mr. Neatfreak can stop cleaning for me, it must be love." Roz pressed tightly against him as they reached the bedroom door. For several moments they just stood there kissing deeply, leaning against the door as they both seemed to forget it had a handle. 

"Are you sure?" Frasier asked softly when they broke apart, the expression in both their eyes making it very obvious what they both wanted. 

"Positive, maybe it's time to break out some of those wedding gifts I put in the closet." Roz said playfully as she reached behind her for the knob and the door swung open.   
  



	22. 22

frasier Chapter 22 

_For this chapter I would like to give credit to Kelsey for her insistence that I absolutely HAD to use the body paint this chapter. Heehee, but she didn't say how! LOL so I had fun with it.___

_And readers may also wish to thank Stephanie who made me change the end of this chapter with threats of hunting me down and killing me. Let's just say the original draft ending was not very honeymoonish. :-), what can I say, I love keeping people hanging._   
__ __

"Alice!" Frasier squeaked as he looked beyond the now open door into the room, somehow they had forgotten all about her as they hastily pulled away. 

"Hey mommy" Alice said happily, still awake despite the lateness of the hour. "Look at what I found?" She said pointing to the box. Though it was obvious by the paint covering her face and hands what she had been in to. She looked confused as to why the two grown-ups were laughing so hard. 

"She's three years old and already following in her mother's footsteps." Frasier lightly teased. 

"Oh please Frasier, she thinks they're fingerpaints." Roz rolled her eyes and laughed. 

"Why is this here instead of kitchen." Alice asked innocently holding up the can of Redi-whip. Roz looked to Frasier for help, but finding none had to create one of her own. 

"Well honey, if it were in the kitchen then your grandpa Martin would eat it all so we hide it in here." Roz tried to keep a straight face while Frasier snickered, but Alice seemed to have no problem with that reason and turned back to the box. 

"It's late, you should be in bed" Roz said to her daughter, trying to sound stern but failing miserably, the multi-color streaks on her daughter and some of the surrounding furniture was amusing. 

"But I wanna keep playing." Alice whined, "can I stay up just a little longer?" 

"Well...." Roz relented. "What?" She saw Frasier roll his eyes. 

"Your firmness in discipline just dazzled me." He said dryly. 

"Fine then why don't you try?" Roz challenged. 

"Certainly" Frasier turned to Alice. "Now honey it's late and...." He got no further as Alice turned on her puppy dog eyes and he could do nothing more than Roz had tried, as he to began chuckling at the little paint streaked face. 

"Besides we need to talk a little anyway." Roz sat down trying to be serious as Alice crawled up close to her. 

"You remember Rick and Heather." 

"Yeah," Alice got a little quiet at the mention of their names, even though everyone had been shielding her, her little 3 year old antenna couldn't help but pick up some of the tension. 

"They want to see you a little bit in the morning is that OK?" Roz tried not to choke. 

"OK, for a little bit." Alice agreed, concentrating very intently on the bottle of paint she was playing with. 

The mood was somber for a moment as Roz tried not to think of how badly the hearing seemed to be going, it was hard waiting until they could get their input into the situation as Laura kept telling them it would change. 

Frasier was also lost in thought as he watched two of the most important women in his life, wondering how it could be possible that they might be split up. 

Alice seemed a little withdrawn for a moment before brightening up. She unexpectedly took a glob of paint and smeared it across her Mother's face, she began laughing so hard she snorted at the large green stripe she had placed. The laughter broke the tone as Roz started laughing, not at the paint but at how hard Alice was giggling. Which caused Frasier to start laughing as he watched Alice start smearing more paint on Roz's face. 

"Ok, ok time to stop," Roz was laughing as she held her daughters arms back so she couldn't get any more paint on her and proceeded to exact her revenge by smearing large dabs of purple on Alice's chin and neck. Alice looked perplexed for a moment at this change of events before the lightbulb went on in her young mind. 

"Daddy, help me." She squealed in another fit of laughter as Roz attacked her stomach with a jar of blue. 

"Wait a minute who's side are you on?" Roz squealed when she felt strong hands taking her arms and holding her back as Alice regained control and began smearing the paint on her laughing mother. 

"Need you ask?" Frasier lightly kissed her neck and then whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending chills down her spine as Alice obliviously continued spreading the paint, now reaching more areas than the face since her target was essentially helpless. 

"I see..." Roz relaxed to throw Frasier off guard and then bolted from his grasp. Grabbing a jar of brown paint she opened it up and held it in front of her before he could get her back. "Alice, whaddya say we have a little fun with daddy, he doesn't have any paint on him yet." Roz said with a glint in her eye. Alice loved the suggestion and launched herself at her new target, Frasier was quickly rendered helpless as he was attacked by the two Doyle women and could feel himself being coated by the smooth substance. 

"Mommy, his face is all covered up now." Alice complained a minute later, can we get it on his clothes?" 

"I don't see why not?" Roz held up a big glob and approached him menacingly..... 

"Wait, this is armani." Frasier gulped, barely removing his dress shirt in time before more paint was launched at him. Before too long his T-shirt was covered with red paint, making it look as if he had been viciously assaulted. 

Before to long the 3 of them all collapsed streaked with paint and laughing, the bottles all completely empty. 

"That was fun mommy," Alice was still laughing as she hugged her mother, "and ya know what, I just realized it tastes good to." Alice had just licked her lips and tasted a bit of the purple paint that was there. "It tastes like grape, do they all taste?" She got curious and started licking at all the flavors. 

"I think that's enough education err... fun for tonight honey," Roz was blushing, suddenly having images of her talkative 3-year old telling the teachers at daycare and who knows who else about her Mommy's paint that tasted good and they smeared all over themselves. That just wouldn't sound good at all. 

Frasier headed for the shower as Roz herded Alice down the hall to wash off the paint and put the tired child to bed. It wasn't until after midnight that she re-entered the room to find Frasier trying to get the paint off the floor. 

"Oh welcome back, this stuff sure can make a mess." Frasier commented, not bothering to look up as he scrubbed. 

"Yeah, it can." Roz agreed, the air between them suddenly thick in the following silence. 

"It's late, we only have a few hours to sleep." Frasier said as he came up behind her and almost tentatively wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. 

Roz couldn't help relaxing against him as he spoke, enjoying the rich smooth sound of his voice, and the clean odor of soap and shampoo radiating from him and the solid feel of his warm body behind her. 

"I think we should go to bed now." She turned to face him wrapping her arms around his neck. 

"I agree, only not for what you've got in mind, but to sleep." Frasier said apologetically after a rather hot and passionate kiss that caused both their toes to curl. 

"What?" Roz was surprised as he pulled back, even though it was obvious he wanted to continue. 

"We have to be back up in four hours, I thought you'd probably want to sleep." Frasier tried to sound noble. 

"Think again," she growled as she pushed him unresistingly back on the bed. 


	23. 23

frasier Chapter 23 

"This hearing is really taking it's toll on you both isn't it Roz?" Martin's tone was sympathetic as he patted her shoulder the next morning at the courthouse. "Even Frasier looks more worn out than usual this morning." 

"Well you know, hard to sleep with all this going on." Roz said calmly trying not to blush. 

Martin gave another sympathetic nod and went to sit down. As soon as he was gone Daphne, who had also been present started giggling. 

"What?!" 

"Oh yeah, you were up all night worrying?" Daphne continued laughing. 

"I don't follow." Roz tried sound innocent. "There's a lot to think about with all this court mess." 

"You may be able to fool some people, but I know that look of being kept up all night by one of the Crane brothers pretty well by now, see it almost every morning when I look into the mirror." Daphne continued to tease. 

Roz couldn't refrain from blushing at that statement, which of course confirmed Daphne's suspicions. 

They stood there in silence for a moment as Roz was trying to think of something else to say, while Daphne just kept flashing that all to knowing grin. 

"Ready to go in?" Frasier suddenly said, seeming to appear out of nowhere. He had quietly slipped up behind Roz causing her to almost jump as she felt his hot breath on her ear. 

"Oh yeah, sure." Roz was still jumpy as Daphne winked and then left them alone to go tend to Alice in one of the nearby rooms. 

"Wait a minute Roz, what's wrong?" Frasier appeared concerned as he took her elbow to prevent her from leaving. 

"Nothing." She said once again having adjusted her poker face, but it was still obvious something was weighing on her mind. 

"I can tell something is troubling you. It's about last night isn't it?" Frasier was suddenly insecure. 

"Last night? Of course not?" Roz laughed as she gave him a quick hug. "Well sorta, but not about you and me, just about people knowing now. Like Daphne was just saying, it's just weird having people know that we well...." her voice trailed off as Frasier started laughing. 

"Roz we've been married for over a month now, people have figured something's been going on. And you heard them on the stand, half of them figured that something was going on long before." Frasier grinned as he pulled her close. 

"I know, it's just before, well it wasn't going on, and now it is? Gee that made no sense" Roz started laughing also. 

"Yes it did make sense, and I understand what you mean? It's one thing for people to accuse you of something you didn't do, but another..." 

"Frasier, your making it sound like a crime." Roz playfully punched him. 

"Only in the 48 regional states." Frasier's tone had gotten low and seductive as he began nuzzling her neck, the courthouse surroundings fading as they luxuriated in the feel of each others arms. They finally broke apart and looked up when interrupted by a rather insistent throat clearing as Niles tried to get their attention. 

"Sorry to interrupt but court is starting in a few minutes." He looked a bit perplexed at what he had seen, but that was all he said as the three walked into the courtroom. 

"Your honor, we realize this is a little unorthodox but we only have one witness left that we'd like to call." Holloway said as he approached the bench. 

"We'd like to have the child in question to be able to tell the court who she would prefer to live with, so we'd like to call Alice Doyle to the stand." Holloway stated with a grand flourish. 

"Absolutely not!" Roz jumped to her feet. "Counselor control your client." The judge commanded banging her gavel. 

"Counselor, calling 3 year old children to the stand is not standard practice." The judge's face was stern as she turned back to Holloway. 

"I must strenuously object your honor. My client has worked hard to keep this trial from affecting her daughter." Laura began her argument. 

"Your honor, I do not intend to treat the child like a regular witness, just a simple question as to how she feels about where she should live. The child should have a say in this also I think." Holloway continued to argue, his voice rising. 

"I'm inclined to allow it, with very strict guidelines of course." The judge said after a moment as she turned to face Laura and Roz. "Counselor, what do you and the child's mother have to say." 

"Absolutely not your honor, we cannot allow..." Laura began before Roz took her arm to interrupt her. 

"Wait a minute, we know what she'll say, this could be a good thing." Roz whispered into Laura's ear. 

"But what if she says something else. It could be devastating to our case." Laura whispered back. 

"I'm not worried about that, I know she'll say us, she barely knows Rick." Roz was confident. 

Laura paused for a moment before rising and saying uncertainly. "We'll allow it your honor, as long as Mr. Holloway promises to follow the strictest guidelines of questioning a minor." 

"Very well then, the court will take a 10 minute recess while the child is brought in and allowed to familiarize herself in the courtroom." The judge banged the gavel again and rose as Roz and Frasier went out to where Daphne was staying with Alice. 

Alice looked small on the stand and very shy when court reconvened. She kept her gaze trained on her Mother for support, even though it had been well explained that she was just going to have to answer a couple questions. 

"Hi Alice" The judge said in a voice so sweet it caused both attorney's to almost snicker at the complete change in the judges normal tone. 

"Hello." Alice responded, her tone barely a whisper. 

"Are you afraid?" The judge asked again. 

"No, I'm ok." Alice said, relaxing somewhat. 

"Mr. Holloway here would like to ask you a couple questions, is that ok?" 

"OK." Alice agreed again as she peered over to the other table and at Rick, who waved at her and grinned. 

"Hi Alice, how are you today?" Holloway approached the child, oozing charm from every pore. Roz wanted to jump up and hit him, but managed to refrain, just thinking of how much Alice's testimony could help. 

"Alice I only have one little question for you. Would you rather go with your mommy *he points at Roz*, or your daddy *he pointed at Rick*" 

"Ummmm..... him!" Alice said with very little hesitation as she pointed at Rick. Frasier barely caught Roz as she fainted and was heading for the floor. 


	24. 24

frasier Chapter 24 

"Thank you Alice" Holloway grinned smugly and went back to the table where Rick and Heather were also grinning widely. "No further questions." 

"Order, order." The judge banged her gavel as Roz's half of the courtroom was in chaos. In a few moments everyone had calmed down somewhat, though it was obvious by the tears on her face and the devastated look that Roz was shattered. 

Frasier took her in his arms for support, looking at Alice in surprise, wondering what could have possessed the child to answer that way. Suddenly an idea struck and he turned to whisper something in Laura's ear. 

"It's worth a try," Laura murmured in agreement as she stood and went up to the stand to question a confused Alice, who wasn't quite sure what was going on. 

"Hi Alice, my name's Laura. Is it ok if I ask you a couple questions now?" Laura squatted so she was at eye level with the child. 

"Ok, but I don't want to make my mommy cry this time." Alice's lower lip was trembling. Seeing her daughter like that enabled Roz to sit up and wipe her eyes, trying to look strong even though she felt like her world had just ended. 

"Don't worry, you just answer the questions honestly and everyone will be fine" Laura reassured the child. 

"You talked with your father over there this morning before court didn't you?" 

"Objection!" Holloway leapt to his feet. 

"Overruled" the judge said strongly leaving no room for argument. 

"Yeah, a little bit." Alice nodded in agreement. 

"What did you talk about?" Laura asked again. 

The judge silenced Holloway with a stern look before he could even object, Rick put his head between his hands as he prepared for the response. 

"Oh lots of things." Alice got excited, "he said he was gonna buy me a new pony, a new barbie dreamhouse, my favorite candy everyday, and anything I ever wanted if I'd come stay with him for a little while." 

"A little while?" Laura repeated. 

"Yeah, that if I said to everyone I wanted to stay wif him he would buy me all these things and then let me go back to mommy's whenever I wanted to." 

"You tried to bribe your own daughter, how could you?" Roz leapt up and charged over to the table to confront Rick. 

Surprisingly the judge did not bang her gavel and Roz continued. 

"Look, I wasn't trying to bribe her." Rick gulped as Heather took his arm in support. 

"What would you call it then." Roz snarled, by this time Daphne had picked up Alice and quietly carried her from the room while Frasier had come over to stand beside Roz in case he needed to prevent her from killing Rick. 

"I had to do something, I knew you would win and I don't want to have to start over with a new baby." 

"What did you say?" Roz's tone was icy. 

"Look, Heather and I just don't want to have another kid and deal with that whole messy diaper and bottle thing." Rick began to explain as Heather bobbed her head in agreement. 

"And that whole icky pregnancy thing too, how gross." Heather chimed in while chewing her bubble gum. 

"That's it! That's why you wanted to take my child from me, of all the low, inexcusable motives. I at least thought you loved her." Roz was practically glowering by this point. Everyone else, including the judge was merely a spectator now. "I went through the pregnancy, the stretch marks, the diaper changes, and the 3am feedings." Roz was shouting in his face. 

"Yeah, but we figured you would be glad to get rid of her and get back to sleeping with half of Seattle." Rick started getting angry and rose also. 

"You figured wrong," Roz snarled again, "If you want a baby without the complications then you adopt, as simple as that." 

"Adopt, why adopt when we can get my own child away from it's Mother." Rick smirked. 

"Not as easy as you thought is it?" Roz grinned victoriously. 

"OK, so this time I may lose, but I won't stop. It won't take me long to prove to everyone that you are no more than a cheap slut who has no right raising a child because it cramps your lifestyle of having cheap one night stands with any guy who crosses your path. Admit it, you're no more than a cheap whore...." Rick would have continued his tirade but found his oxygen supply suddenly being restricted by a strong hand on his collar that drug him across the table and face to face with a very angry Frasier Crane. 

"I think you need to watch your mouth." Frasier said menacingly as he was practically nose to nose with the slightly perspiring Rick. The judge had still not banged the gavel, it was becoming fairly obvious that this case was about to settle itself. 

"Let me go you pompous arrogant snob. You're all bark and no bite. And just because she lets you share her bed you think it's love. Hah she's just using you to keep her kid. Once this is over she'll go back to being the town doorknob. You know everyone gets a turn." Rick laughed, not believing Frasier would do anything to him. 

He was soon proved wrong as before he knew what hit him he was flying through the air and ended up lying on the floor at the foot of the judges bench with blood streaming down his face. 

"You broke my nose." Rick stammered in disbelief while covering his face with his hands trying to stop the flow. 

Frasier calmly approached Rick, obviously working hard to control his temper. "Now apologize to the lady." 

Roz along with the rest of the courtroom were in absolute shock. No one could believe that Frasier was capable of such action, to get angry yes, but no one was prepared for him to punch. Gil had fainted again, and Niles looked a little woozy also at the sight of blood on Rick's face. Martin was grinning widely, pleased that his son was showing some action for a change. And Roz couldn't help feeling a strong pang of appreciation that he was standing up for her. If she had any doubts of his love they were now erased as she watched him defend her honor. 

"You'll pay for that." An enraged Rick leapt up and charged at Frasier, a bailiff began to approach but the judge discreetly motioned for him to stay back. 

Frasier easily stepped to the side and caught Rick in midrush, flipping him over onto the floor on his back with a loud thud. 

"I asked you to apologize." Frasier said again, standing over the groaning Rick. 

"Ok, ok.. sorry." Rick said weakly as he rose to his feet. 

"That's better than nothing." Frasier turned away the gasping man and went back towards Roz. "Why are you crying?" 

"I just never had anyone stand up for me like that." Roz said gratefully as she hugged him. 

"Hey, what about me?" Rick said painfully looking at those around him. "Richard Louis Garrett, I can't believe you'd talk to her like that." His mother stood from her seat scolding him. "Son, you told us you wanted Alice because you loved her, I'm not sure whether I'm more disappointed with your laziness or your lying to us." His father agreed as he took his wife's hand and they began to leave the courtroom. "But... But..." Rick turned looking for support, finding none as everyone seemed to find the floor very fascinating at the moment. 

"Any further motions." The judge finally said with a hint of dryness to her voice. 

"Yes your honor, I'd like to move that this case be dismissed." Holloway sighed. 

"I agree your honor." Laura smiled. 

"Case dismissed and court is adjourned." The judge smiled slightly and banged her gavel. 

"Wait.. wait I want to charge this man with assault." Rick pointed at Frasier. 

"Assault? It looked like self-defense to me." The judge smiled. "Mr. Garrett, I advise that you let things go now before I hold you in contempt of court. You tried to bribe a child, you lied to her and to those around you. I think it is obvious who the unfit parent is here." She said sternly as she rose to exit the courtroom. And I hope you two continue to be very happy together she smiled at Frasier and Roz as she exited. The courtroom erupted into warm congratulations as soon as she had left while Rick and Heather slipped out a side door in defeat and embarrassment. 

"Celebration party at our place!" Frasier yelled over the din before escorting Roz out the door as they went to find Alice and Daphne so everyone could head home.   
  



	25. End

frasier Chapter 25 

_HOURS LATER_

"Whew can you believe it's finally all over?" Roz was almost flying with happiness as they began picking up after all the guests had left. 

"Well not all of it I hope." Frasier murmured in her ear as he grabbed her from behind and started nuzzling. 

"OK you two, cut it out." Niles groaned as he entered the living room. You guys are worse than newlyweds." 

"Hah, we're no worse than you and Daphne." Roz giggled as Frasier found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck and attacked it in earnest. 

"Well at least get a room." Niles rolled his eyes. 

"Why can't you be happy for them? You've been acting strange about them for a few days now." Daphne commented, causing Frasier to stop his nibbling and look up. 

"Niles, do you have a problem about Roz and I?" Frasier looked up concerned. 

"No, well not really. Just after what was said in court the other day I started thinking about it and well... to be honest I had just come to the conclusion that this was all well just as they were saying, an attempt to keep Alice. Everything made sense and fell into place. But then I see you like this and well I am now doubting my earlier assessment." Niles admitted. "And that upsets me because I rarely incorrectly assess cases." 

"I can't believe you said that!" Daphne was getting angry, "how dare you accuse them of trying to deceive us all like this?" 

"Well when you look at some of the facts...." Niles got defensive, preparing to argue his case. He was confused as to how his original assessment of the situation could have been as far off base as it seemed now, but he would almost have been willing to take the stand and lend a professional opinion that they had indeed been capable of pulling something like that off. 

"Excuse me Daphne, a word with my brother please." Frasier interrupted, stepping away from Roz and exiting to the kitchen with an upset Niles. 

"The nerve of that man." Daphne huffed as Roz watched her pace. Roz suddenly realized that the happiness might be over sooner than she thought if word got out and people reacted to the betrayal. They had lied to several people in the beginning and though the truth was now different she was willing to bet people would still be offended. She wondered what Frasier was telling Niles. 

They returned several moments later and Niles had a contrite expression on his face as he immediately went to Daphne and wrapped his arms around her. "You're right Daphne, it was wrong of me to question this. It's obvious to everyone that Roz and my brother are in love. I'm glad my brother finally found someone to love as much as I love you and I think we should all move on and forget about the ugly accusations made during the trial." Niles said sweetly while attempting to soothe the irate Daphne. 

"Well that's better." Daphne relaxed again as she hugged her husband, not noticing his knowing wink at Frasier and Roz over her shoulder. 

"We should go, it's been a big day and I'm sure everyone could use some time to relax." Niles prompted escorting Daphne to the door. 

"Yeah, it's late and Alice will be waking up before we know it." Roz yawned as she walked with them both to the door. 

"Oh Frasier, opera tomorrow night, all four of us?" Niles halted to invite them. 

"Yes of course, it's their last show of the season and we can't miss it." Frasier grinned widely as he accepted. Roz rolled her eyes slightly but didn't comment, not wanting to spoil her husbands excitement. It would definitely take her awhile to get used to that word she realized as she tested it out in her mind. 

"Don't worry Roz, I'll bring the deck of cards." Daphne laughed as she hugged Roz while the two men gaped. 

"Good thing we'll have a private booth." Niles mumbled as Daphne led him out the door as Roz laughed at Frasier's expression. 

"We're really going to have to work on your appreciation for the fine arts." Frasier commented as he took Roz back into his arms. 

"And while we're at it we can work on your appreciation for roller coasters, say this Sunday afternoon when we take Alice to the park." Roz giggled as she put her arms around him. 

"I have a feeling we're going to be experiencing a lot of new things." Frasier said as he began leading her towards the bedroom. 

"Yes we will, but best of all we'll be experiencing them together." Roz agreed as they entered the room. "By the way, did you tell Niles the truth." 

"Yes I hope you don't mind, but I thought he should know before he went into a long self analysis based on a supposed mis-evaluation. He wasn't upset at all, relieved to know he hadn't been mistaken, then commented that he thought it made our love story seem even more classic." Frasier said while finding his earlier spot on the side of her neck to begin nuzzling again. 

"Good, I'm glad that's all wrapped up then. So the four of us are the only ones to ever have to know it was a deception." Roz said though finding it harder to concentrate as his warm breath sent shivers down her spine. 

"Technically 5, but yes that should be as far as it goes." Frasier agreed as he lightly nipped at her earlobe causing her to jump slightly. "Alice is asleep you said?" Frasier murmured huskily as he began leaned back and began toying with the buttons on Roz's blouse. 

"She's out like a light." Roz agreed as she began working on the buttons on his shirt as well. Making significantly more progress as within seconds she had it undone and was caressing his warm solid chest. 

"And Kenny said we could both have tomorrow off." He murmured as his lips began tracing a path down her neck and onto her shoulder as he slowly moved the material aside. 

"Yup, only one more thing." Roz smiled devilishly and stepped back. 

"What?" Frasier looked confused at her retreat from his attentions. 

"This." Roz giggled as she reached behind her and picked up the can of whipped cream and took off the lid. "Ready to walk on the wild side Dr. Crane." 

"Oooh, keep talking, I'm definitely listening." Frasier grinned widely before sweeping her into a passionate kiss and moving them both to the bed. 

_FADE TO BLACK_   


**And that's a wrap everyone.... time for acknowledgments.**

I would like to thank all my beta readers, you know who you are, for their wonderful feedback and input. Thanks to kels and mar for pushing me into finishing it. I might have taken considerably longer without their whip cracking. Thanks to all the wonderful readers who have given me feedback and encouraged me to go on, even though many times I felt like just dropping the whole thing, though they were not aware of that. Yes folks feedback definitely can make an impact. Thanks to Eunice for archiving this on her site and putting it up in such a timely manner, great job. And a final thanks to all involved with _Frasier_ for providing the characters to write about and for loaning them to me for this little tale.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



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